


The Thing That Should Be

by fergus80



Series: Carmen AU [1]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-08
Updated: 2015-03-08
Packaged: 2018-03-16 21:30:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 32,915
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3503420
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fergus80/pseuds/fergus80
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This thought/idea has been bugging me since I watched WI&WNSB, and I actually LOVED Carmen. Part 1 of my Carmen AU.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Thing That Should Be

Chapter 1:  
~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~

BAMM. WHACK. 

'Oh... man. What the hell?' he thought his brain coming back into consciousness. 

His body jostled around. Pain coming in jagged stabs at every jarring movement. His head whirling. Something was wrong. Very, very wrong.

"Pulse is falling!"

'What the?' his mind questioned in the darkness. What the hell was happening?

"Is the IV in yet damn it?"

That voice... he swore he recognized that voice. But the thought refused to process more as his brain kicked into gear. That wasn't the voice he wanted to hear. Needed to hear. Panic at the implications of where he was. What was happening. He needed to know...

"What's his name?"

"Dean," was the slight panic reply.

With that simple response his entire body relaxed, 'Sammy.' But then something burned through his blood, his whole body tensing, and the world went silent.  
~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~

PULL. 

'Holy Fuck!' his mind screamed waking once again at the pain.

TWIST. PUSH.

'Damn!'

"Shoulder's back in place."

'Yep. That explains it.'

"I'll finish up the stitches" came a feminine reply. "It's late. Head on home."

A door closed. Soft humming started. His body started to relax at the soft touches, the soft tune. A tune he could almost place. His brain floated towards sleep on the familiar melody.   
~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~

"Dean. Damn it. This isn't funny. Wake the hell up."

Even though the request was in almost a whisper, his brain did hear the urgency in that very familiar and concerned voice. 

He wanted to role his eyes at his younger brother. It wasn't like he was just pretending to be asleep, like he usually did to get a couple more minutes in the morning. Not to mention, that right now, he did not smell the coffee that usually came with the kicking of his bed, and the request that he get the hell out of it. 

Hell, he didn't even know how he wound up in the hospital. At least from the facts that he had heard, that is where he assumed he was. 

"Dean. Come on. We can't stay here..."

He laughed in his head. He knew Sam. He knew he was trying to just piss him off to get him to wake up and beat the living shit out of him. But his plan wasn't going to work. His body just felt like a dead weight, and no matter what, it just wasn't going to move yet. 'Come on Sammy. At least let me know what the hell happened.' It seriously bothered him that he couldn't remember.

A door opened and footsteps came in. "Doctor? When will he..."

"I know you're worried," came a calming voice. "He's okay. He's just been through a lot. His body is repairing itself. He's not in a coma. He's just sleeping."

More footsteps. Some beeps. A couple clicks. Cool liquid entered his veins. The pain in his body easing again. 'Damn, this doctor is good.' 

"But..."

They cut him off again, "It's actually a good thing he's sleeping."

'Ha!' He now had someone else telling his brother to let him sleep. He could get used to this. 

He felt fingertips on his wrist. Then the movement of fabric around his side. "Bandages look good. No signs of infection. That's good."

Dean heard the sigh on his other side. "When do you think he'll wake up? When do you think we could get out of..."

"You're kidding right? Even if he woke up in the next hour, there is no way we'll release him today, or tomorrow."

"But..."

"If you are worried about medical costs..."

'Damn it Sam. If you gave my real name not only is Hendrickson going to... But my insurance card is under...'

"You don't need to worry." The fabric and blanket was replaced, and she continued. "I've talked with the firemen, and the parents of those children. As far as we're all concerned, the two of you are heroes."

He heard the sigh. "Thank you. That does... help."

A soft pat on fabric. "He'll be okay. Now why don't you get your rest. It's late. Well, actually very early."

"I'll try. See you in the morning?"

"Not if I'm lucky. You should be seeing the attending physician on rounds tomorrow. I'll be back tomorrow night."

"Thank you for everything Doctor Porter."

"You're more than welcome." The door closed.

Metal slid against tile. Then a heavy weight fell onto the end of the bed. "Well, if I have to sleep in this chair, my feet are going to share the bed with yours." 

He almost laughed. His mind imagining the Sasquatch trying to get comfortable in one of those God awful chairs with his long legs sprawled up onto the hospital bed. He let himself try to fall back to sleep. But a soft snort, small laugh prevented it.

"Heroes." A small, sigh followed. "We don't get that often." A pause. "Night, Dean."

His mind smiled at the thought, 'Night, Sammy.'  
~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~

Oh God his head hurt. And whatever that annoying sound was, was not making it any better. His eyelids felt like they were weighed down, and his mouth. Oh, no way was mouthwash even going to cut it. 

He slowly moved his head towards the sound, and forced his eyes open. Light and colors blinded him at first, and then slowly it all started to come into focus. The television, with some strange animals was on the screen. He forced his eyes shut, then back open. 'Penguins?'

"Dean?"

His head spun towards the sound of his name, and then his stomach did a small lurch. He closed his eyes quickly. The movement was just too quick. He swallowed, trying to get moisture in his mouth. "What the..."

The sound from the TV stopped, and he slowly opened his eyes to find a pair of concerned, golden hazel ones looking back. A deep sigh of relief exiting the owner’s mouth. "Finally."

He licked his lips a few times, sticking out his tongue at the taste. In a matter of seconds a plastic cup with water was in front of him. He gave a soft smile, and his arm started to move for it. "Holy crap," sprang from his mouth as the muscles in his shoulder cried out. 

"Yeah, you'll want to use the left for awhile."

His eyes widened, the pain slowly ebbing away. His left hand moved slowly to take the cup and bring it to his mouth. The refreshing liquid finally traveling down his dry throat. He looked up at his brother, whom had moved the chair closer to the side of the bed. 

Dean stared at him as he continued to drink. Taking the hint, Sam started to talk. "Everything went fine, until you went back in after the last kid."

His brain was still foggy. But small pieces started to flash in his mind. Kids. Boogeyman. Fire. Yep, all starting to come back. 

"The fire took care of the..." he looked around, "thing. But, the warehouse couldn't take the fire. Or more like the rafters just didn't like you." 

Well that explained the pain in his head and back, not to mention the slight burnt feeling on his neck. He handed back the now empty glass. He glanced over at the TV, and then back to Sam. "That's all good. But I was referring to the Penguins."

The fish face his brother was making trying to come up with something made him laugh. But he groaned as his side hurt from the laughter. "Burning wood and cement fell on you from above. Concussion. Burns. Broken ribs. Dislocated shoulder. Not to mention deep scratches and bruises."

At each word, his body mentally felt and ticked them off. "Lovely." He looked around, "So, any hot nurses?" Sam shook his head. "What? I could use a sponge bath."

Sam rolled his eyes. "Yeah, well you already had yours." Dean looked deflated for having missed it. "I guess they could have been considered hot. But he might have been too short for you."

Dean's whole body gave a shudder. "Dude. Not. Funny."

Sam laughed, "If you could have seen your face." The evil look he got back just made him laugh harder.

Then Dean got serious, as he started to remember some of the earlier events. "Dude! Why did you give them my real name?"

Sam blinked a couple times. "What? You heard that?"

"Yeah. I wasn't totally with it. But I heard you tell the Doctor my name! Weren't you the one going on about Hendrickson..."

"Hey. You were unconscious, and they were trying to get you to wake up. Are you going to respond to someone else’s name?" Dean was about to object, but the kid had a point. "Besides, I only gave your first name."

"What did you give for the last?"

"Forester."

"Forester? Forester? You've got to be kidding me!"

"It was the only thing I could think of at the spur of the moment." Dean was about ready to say more when his stomach interrupted him, grumbling loudly. Sam just shook his head, stood up, "I'll tell the nurse you're awake and obviously hungry."  
~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~

He laughed and ignored the pain in his side from doing so. The disgruntled huff to his right made him roll his eyes and look over. "What?"

"You."

"What?" he asked again not sure exactly what he had done this time. 

"Laughing at the television. Eating up the food. Enjoying yourself when we need to get out of here."

Dean rolled his eyes, and then actually sat down his fork. A small amount of anger burned though him. "Well excuse me for enjoying myself for once."

"What's to enjoy Dean? You're in the hospital!"

"Hmmm... let's see here shall we? I'm in a clean bed. Watching free television. Being served food in bed by nice women. And for once, they actually think we are both some God damn hero's and are treating us like it. And this time... this time that I'm in here, I'm not about to die. So yeah... I think I might just try and relax and enjoy this while I God Damn CAN!" He picked up his fork once more and poked at the food.

He could feel his brother’s eyes on him, and after an uncomfortable silence, came two words barely audible to his ears. "I'm sorry." Dean just looked over at him. "I just..."

"You worry too much. You've got to enjoy the little things. Otherwise... this Job... this Job will just..." He didn't even need to finish. Sam just nodded and leaned back in his chair. 

Dean poked at his food again, but now he strangely wasn't all that hungry. He sighed softly as he put down his fork, just as the door opened. He looked up, getting ready for one of the nurses to walk in and check his vitals again. But instead his eyes widened in absolute shock, and he couldn't move.

He saw her lips move, but his brain barely heard her speak. "Oh no. Don't tell me you don't have an appetite." She walked closer to him, and checked his plate, and then picked up the clip board from the end of the bed. "You need to eat to get your strength back, so we can get you outta here."

Dean couldn't move, all he could do was stare at her. She looked back up at him, "Something wrong?"

He still couldn't speak, as he heard Sam stand up and moved towards him, "Dean?" His name broke him away for a second so he could turn to his brother. Sam continued with a soft whisper into his ear, "Yes, she's very pretty. But uh... you are usually a lot less obvious..."

Dean shook him off, "Who are you?" was all he could finally manage to get out.

Sam just shook his head, "Sorry about this," he said to her rolling his eyes at his brother. "Dean. This is Dr. Porter. She's the one that took care of you last night when I brought you in." 

Her hand immediately went out to him, ready to shake it. He stiffened at the name and drew back. She gave him a strange look and took her hand back. He found his voice again, "Dr... Carmen? Porter?" 

She blinked at him in a small amount of shock, "Yes, that's right. Do I know you?"

He swallowed, his eyes turning towards Sam, then back to the doctor. "I'm not sure."  
~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~

Chapter 2:  
~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~

Dean was panicking. Actually, and totally panicking on the inside at least. On the outside he was just very, quiet. 

The doctor looked him over, marked a few things on the chart, and told him to get some rest. The whole time, Sam just watched him. Once she left, Sam turned to him, "Dude, what the hell? What is wrong?"

Dean's eyes just looked at him, "Pinch me."

"What?"

"Pinch me... really, really hard."

"Dean, what are you talking about?"

Then he just started rambling. "This isn't possible. I killed myself in the dream. I woke up. I'm supposed to be awake." A thought occurred to him and his eyes got bigger. "Unless the Djinn only wants me to think I'm awake. Maybe I'm still strung up in the warehouse." 

Sam shook his head not processing what his brother was saying, until he heard the Djinn. "Wait... what?"

"This isn't real. I'm still dreaming." But his brain was still doing circles. "But if the Djinn didn't want me to figure it out, he wouldn't have had her in the dream again." He looked back at Sam, or dream Sam, or whoever the heck it was in question. "Would he?"

"Stop. What the heck are you talking about."

"Carmen!"

"Dr. Porter?"

"Dude! CARMEN! The Girl. The one. The GIRL!" Sam still wasn't getting it. "The Djinn dream land. SHE was MY GIRLFRIEND! Carmen PORTER." 

"That's not possible."

"Well obviously it is! Or I'm still in dreamland." He looked suspiciously at his brother, "Which means I shouldn't trust anything you say." 

Sam walked closer to him, "Listen, you aren't dreaming."

"Yeah, that's what he would want you to say."

"Like you said. If he wanted to keep you in the dream world, or whatever, why the heck would he bring her back into the dream?"

Dean nodded, but it didn't make sense. "In my dream she was a nurse. With the SAME name. When I 'woke up' or at least I thought I did, I later found her picture in that beer ad. So I thought..."

"You thought the girl in the dream was just your subconscious."

"Yeah. But now this? How can the beer ad girl be the doctor with the SAME FUCKING NAME?" 

Sam didn't know how to answer that one, "Okay, just calm down, we'll figure this out."

"Calm down? CALM DOWN? Are you kidding me?" The heart monitor was starting to go off the charts.

Sam looked over at it, "You NEED to calm down." Dean looked at the monitor, and then back at his... brother? He honestly had no idea what to believe anymore. "All I can say is this is real. Unless the Djinn also has me too. Which would totally suck, since I don't see any wishes at all having been granted." 

Deans eyes widened. "Maybe he did. When we fought against him. Maybe we only THOUGHT we killed him. Maybe he got both of us."

Sam shook his head. This was getting out of hand. "So what, you going to try and kill yourself or both of us again, to wake up, when we have no clue what's going on?"

Dean stopped. His brother. Or whatever it was. Had a point. Or was it just that self preservation part of his brain talking to him like before? No, he had to be pretty sure before he did anything... drastic. 

"Okay. Then explain to me how the El Sol Beer girl is also a doctor, and not only that, but that I already knew her real name." 

Sam sat down heavily in the chair next to the bed, and ran his hands though his hair. He shook his head. "Well, maybe Djinn know quite a bit, and use real people in their wish type dream world instead of just relying on the memory of its subjects." 

Okay, that would make some sense. "But rationalize beer girl and doctor for me." 

Sam thought about it for awhile. He really thought about it, and the best he could come up with. "Twin sister?"

Dean shook his head, "Stanford. Four years of higher education and that's the best you could come up with?" He ran his hand over his face, "That would be one hell of a coincidence." 

Sam threw his hands up in the air, "With us. Stranger things have been known to happen." Dean couldn't disagree.   
~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~

He tried to sleep. He really did. Hell, Dean loved to sleep. But his mind wouldn't let him. The doctor... Carmen... had come to check on him a few more times when Sam was gone. His brother had actually left to go get their stuff from the motel, and catch a few hours of sleep. But only after Dean had promised him he wouldn't do anything 'drastic' while he was gone. 

He flipped through the channels, trying to take his mind off it. Trying to relax. Hoping that maybe Sam would also find something in the Journal or online that would answer his questions. But then again, if none of this was real. If Sam wasn't real, then whatever he found out. Wouldn't be the truth anyway. He sighed deeply as the door opened, and she walked in again.

"You should be asleep."

Dean tried to relax, and smile. "Yeah, well. I got so much before. My batteries must be all charged."

She smiled at him, and his heart actually clenched. That was just not fair. He had seen that smile in that dream world before. Directed at him. Lovingly directed at him. He watched her pick up the clip board, and look at the monitors again, jotting down some notes. "Well, you seem to be doing very well considering what you went through."

He smiled up at her, "Yeah, I usually bounce back pretty well."

She raised her eyebrow, "Usually? How often do you play the hero?" 

Dean didn't really know how to respond to that one. Part of him really wanted to tell her the truth. But past experience proved that was a really bad idea. So he went with a different direction, "Lots of old sports injuries." It wasn't an out and out right lie. It depended on what you meant by 'sports.' 

She nodded, taking that as the explanation. "Well, since you're awake. Let me look at that gash on your side." He moved the sheet away from him and then raised his shirt. Her small, delicate hands pulled the dressing away from his skin. Even with the latex gloves he could feel the warmth of her touch against him. His eyes just watched her face, as her eyes looked over the wound. Her lips curled into a smile, "Good. Healing very nicely. With any luck, you should only have a very faint scar." 

"Thanks." He told her, and she gave him a look of not understanding. "For stitching me up."

"Uh, thanks. How did you know..."

"I think I heard you. Right after one of your other hospital friends popped my shoulder back into place." 

A look of pain washed over her features, "Oh God. You were awake? We thought you were unconscious. I'm so sorry... I mean..."

He waved his hand to stop her. "Not your fault. But I do have a question."

"Sure. What?" She said as she replaced the dressing and then let him bring the sheet back up over himself.

"What were you humming?"

She turned about three shades of red. "Uhh. Sorry about that."

"No. No. It was nice. Relaxing. I just wanted to know." 

"It's silly really." She tried to avoid the question, as she dropped the gloves in the trash, and then turned back to him.

Dean reached out for her, and his hand took her wrist lightly. His eyes still asking, and she sighed. "It was just the song that was last playing on my MP3 player before your brother dragged you into the ER."

"I'm just curious, cause it sounded, familiar."

"Familiar? 'Some Kind Of Monster' sounds familiar?"

His eyes widened. "Metallica?"

"Yeah. Yeah. Say whatever you want..."

"You will never hear a hash word out of my mouth about a fan of James Hetfield." Her eyes sparkled back at him, and her lips curved even higher, and she nodded. 

"Okay, well, on that note, try and get some sleep. Or do I need to bring my MP3 player in here for you?" Part of him really wanted her too. One, to see exactly what music she did listen to. And two, that it might actually work, to get him to sleep. She laughed at the look of indecision on his face, "I'll see what I can do."

He smiled as she was about to leave. "Wait." She turned around in the doorway. "One more, really crazy question."

"Shoot."

Dean dodged the many replies he could have given to that. And just asked his question. "Do you have a sister?"

He could tell she was taken back by that. "Uh, no. Two older brothers. Why?"

"Nothing. Just. You look very familiar." 

A flash of something went across her eyes, and then was gone just as quickly. "Sorry. I haven't met you before. Good Night." She said and shut the door behind her.

No sister. And what was that look? Was she lying? The unease in his stomach grew at her answer and reaction.  
~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~

Chapter 3:  
~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~

He grumbled lightly. How the heck was a patient supposed to rest, or sleep when people kept coming into the room every five minutes? Seriously. What could they possibly need to check this time? He opened one eye cautiously, and then upon recognizing them, he sat up, awake. "What did you find out?"

"Eager, sunshine?" Dean glared at him. That glare that told Sam, really, don't fuck with me. He let out a small cough. "Yeah, so. Nothing new in the journal. Nothing on the net. I called Bobby, Ellen, Ash. Nothing."

"Perfect."

"Well, it could be, that it's rare to actually get away from a Djinn. Reason there might not be to many 'how to' guides."

"That is, IF I got away."

Sam sighed in frustration. "You are NOT in the dream world."

"And how many times, do I have to tell you, you telling me that doesn't mean anything if you are a DREAM!"

He rolled his eyes. "Okay, moving on. Since I couldn't get any information that way. I tried a different approach."

"Different?"

"I decided, that if I couldn't find out more about the Djinn. I could at least find out more about the girl."

"Carmen?" Sam nodded. "And?" Dean asked, hopeful.

"Full Medical School. Is in her first year of residency with the hospital. Two brothers just like she said. No criminal record. Except for a few speeding and parking tickets. No acting or modeling records."

Dean rubbed his hand over his face. "Great. Just great."

"BUT." 

Dean peeked out though his fingers, "But? You have a but, and wait till now too tell me?"

"Well, then I tried to find out information on the El Sol beer girl."

"And?"

"And, I got her name. And the agency."

Sam was really starting to annoying him, "AND?"

"The girl has no record."

He rolled his eyes, "So we are dealing with two non-criminal girls here. Big deal..."

Sam cut him off, "No, I mean NO record. As if, she doesn't exist."

"Doesn't exist?" Dean's stomach was about to drop, "As in she's a figment of my imagination?" 

Sam shook his head, "No dufus. As in a fake name. A stage name." Dean still wasn't getting it. "Do you know how much medical school costs?"

Then it hit him. "Oh course!" How many playboy and maxim magazines had issues about hot college co-ed's paying their way through school by posing? "Carmen posed for the beer ad to pay for medical school."

"Bingo." He glared at Dean, "See those four years of higher..."

"Whatever Stanford." Dean then remembered the look she gave him earlier, "The look makes sense now."

Sam gave him a strange face, "Look?"

"Nothing." He said shaking his head. "It's nothing." But he knew. He knew to her, it was something. Something, she looked like she wanted to forget. The only question was. How to ask, how to make sure, without making her uncomfortable?  
~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~  
His eyes watched her hands gently move over his side. There were so many things he wanted to say. Wanted to ask. He let out a deep breath and her eyes caught his, "Did that hurt?" she asked concerned.

"What?" He shook his head, "Oh, no. Just..." He didn't know what to say, and she gave him a look. "Just thinking."

A soft smile played on her lips, "About?" She again pulled the sheet back up, then motioned for him to sit up, so she could look at the back of his head, and neck. 

"I'm not sure how to ask."

She laughed, "Ask what?" she said moving back into his line of sight. 

He let out the deep breath and figured to just jump in headfirst. "I think I know where I know you from, and I just don't think..." He stopped, "I have a feeling that..." He was beating around the bush. "Well..." He stopped again, and decided to go a different way. "While you looked breath taking in that Bikini, you are more beautiful in person doing what you love."

She stopped instantly, her eyes staring at him. Taking in what he had just said. Then slowly a small flush creped through her cheeks, but her lips couldn't hide the tiny smile sneaking into the corners. Her eyes lowered slightly, and she spoke softly. "Thank you." Her eyes slowly traveled back up to his. "That's..." her smile grew bigger, "That's one of the nicest..." She shook her head. Gave a small laugh. "When most guys figure it out..." She laughed again, "Well. They definitely don't say that." 

They both laughed. "Well, I guess most guys that notice aren't subject to your bedside manner." 

Her grin light up her face. "Well I guess if you are feeling this well now, to be so..." she winked at him, "flirtatious, then I guess we might have to release you soon."

His eyes widened, and he leaned back in the bed, put his left hand over his forehead. "Oh," he moaned, "I don't know about that." 

She laughed. "No. Actually, you should be able to go home tomorrow morning."

Dean sighed, and looked up into her dark eyes. "What if I don't want to leave? What if I want to stay and be... flirtatious?"

She shook her head, and sighed with a smile. "I don't date 'current' patients."

His ears picked up on the secret word. "Well then... when do I sign my release papers?"

She sat the clipboard back at the end of the bed. "They should be ready for you in the morning." He nodded, and she walked to the door. She turned back to him. "I actually have tomorrow off."

He gave her a smile. "About time huh?" 

She nodded, "Yeah. And when I don't have to work. I tend to catch lunch at the local sandwich shop on the corner of Main and Seventh. So, take care of yourself. Good night." She said and walked out of the door.

Dean's smile grew larger. Much, much larger. He laughed to himself, as he closed his eyes. His brain repeating to himself. ‘Main and Seventh.’ ‘Main and Seventh.’  
~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~

Chapter 4:  
~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~

"Dean, slow down." 

He sighed at his brother as he quickly laced his boots. "Slow down? This from Mr. We NEED to get out of here? Mr. WAKE UP DEAN?" He rolled his eyes, and moved to the next boot. 

"Yeah. But there isn't a rush, and you..." Sam watched him stand quickly and grab his coat out of the closet and pull it on. A slight wince escaped his mouth as he did so, but he continued. He sighed, "You could hurt yourself, you're still..." An evil look stopped him. "Okay. Fine. Just tell me what the rush is all about."

Dean gave him a huge smile as he walked towards the door, "It's almost noon, and I heard there is a fantastic sandwich shop on Main and Seventh that I just HAVE to try."

Sam just shook his head watching his brother walk out of the door. "Food? What is your crazy obsession with FOOD?" He called out after him, following him out.  
~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~

It was just after twelve forty-five and the lunch rush was in full swing. Sam eyed Dean across the table. His brother had been taking too long to finish his food. That and his eyes were not on his food, but on the door. Sam looked back at the door again, realizing the table Dean had picked had the perfect view of anyone coming in. "Okay. That's it. What's going on?"

Dean's eyes didn't stop looking around, "What do you mean?"

Sam waved his hand in front of Dean’s face to finally draw his brother’s attention to him. "We are not here for the food." Dean looked down at his half eaten sandwich and fries. He looked back up, but turned his head towards the opening door, and sighed again. Sam caught it. "Okay, who are we waiting for?"

Dean shifted in his seat, not saying anything, and took a big bite of his sandwich. Then indicating he couldn't talk because his mouth was full.

Sam rolled his eyes, "Oh don't even. You ALWAYS talk with your mouth full."

He groaned and then swallowed the bite of sandwich. "Fine. If you MUST know." Sam waited. Tilted his head. Waited. Then rolled his hand impatiently. "Carmen told me about this place."

Sam blinked at him a few times, "Dr. Porter told you about this sandwich place... so now we are waiting for her to show up? You're kidding right?" When he saw his brother wasn't kidding, “Who’s to say when and if she'll ever..."

"She says she ALWAYS goes here for lunch on her day off." He took a quick drink, "This is her day off."

"Dean..." He was slightly flabbergasted at his brother. He took a deep breath. "Okay. Let's pretend that she will actually show up. Then what?"

"Then what, what?" Dean had no clue where his brother was going with this.

"Why are you doing this Dean? A quick hookup? She's not a waitress or a bartender."

"No, she definitely is not." He said with a smile on his face. 

"Exactly. So I highly doubt she's going to be in it for your typical wham, bam..."

Dean cut him off, "Sam. None of them are like THAT."

"Yeah, whatever." 

Dean scratched his chin, and sighed, "This is different."

Sam tilted his head again. "How is this different Dean? What is going to make this different? We are going to leave town right? You can't or won't tell her the truth, right? So, how is THIS going to be different?"

Dean looked down. He didn't want to think about that, he closed his eyes, slowly raised his head, and then opened them to look at the man across from him. "It just... it has to be."

Sam eyed him for a minute. "Dean. Don't do this."

"Don't do what Sam? Hope that I could have something? Something real with someone? At least for a little while? Am I really asking that much?"

Sam's shoulders slumped a little, "No, but..." He looked down, he didn't want to say it. "Dean. How much of this is real, and how much of it is just residual feelings from the dream world?"

Dean swallowed. God he hated it when his brother was right. "That's just it. I don't know. I need to find out." Sam was about to say something. "Sam. I HAVE to find out. If I don't find out..." He closed his yes, "I'm going to wonder for the rest of my life what might have, what could have..." He trailed off, his eyes moving to the door as it chimed open. 

Sam turned around to see one Dr. Porter walk into the sandwich shop, turning to see them both. A large grin started to spread on her face, a smile in her eyes, eyes glanced right past him, and directly to the man sitting at the other side of his table. "Oh, boy," came out faintly from his lips.   
~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~

 

He smiled as he turned the handle and opened the door to the motel room. A head of shaggy hair looked up from his computer screen, then to his watch. "You're early. She turn you down?"

Dean glared at him, "No. I didn't offer." He put his keys on the stand, and gingerly took off his coat.

"Not up to peak form? Or afraid she'd say no?"

He just shook his head, "Neither." He turned around to face his brother, "If you MUST know. I do want to get to know her. I don't want..."

Sam's eyebrows raised, "A fling. A one night stand. A..."

"You know, you're really starting to piss me off."

"What?" he asked leaning back in his chair.

Dean took off his over-shirt, and laid down on the bed, moving his shoulder into a more comfortable position. "Nothing. Never mind." He said in a huff, and picked up the remote for the television.

Sam stood up and moved to other bed, and sat down on the edge. "No. What?" He ignored him and turned up the TV. Sam sighed, got up. Turned off the TV, and stood in front of it. 

"Move!"

"No!"

Dean was getting mad. He didn't want to start discussing all this shit. He was pissed, and he just... "MOVE!" 

"Talk to me!"

Dean sat up quick on the bed, "Fuck!" he yelled as he jarred his shoulder. Then he glared at Sam. "God, you are such a damn girl sometimes!" 

"You're the one that got so touchy about whatever it is I said!" 

"Well you make it sound like I go out and use all these women as some type of game, or entertainment."

Sam gave him a face that told him, 'yeah, your point?' 

Dean shook his head and sighed. "Do you really think any of those girls don't know exactly what I am doing?"

"What?"

"Sam. All those girls are looking for the exact same thing that I am on those occasions. You can walk into any one of those restaurants or bars, and know exactly which ones are looking just for a good time for the night, and which ones are there to pick up someone for more than that." He rubbed his forehead, and let out a long breath. "I may lie about what I do. And they WANT to hear it. They KNOW it's a come on. They KNOW it's a line. They don't want to know the TRUTH. They don't care about the truth. It just adds to the juicy gossip the next morning to their friends."

Sam slowly walked back over to the bed and sat down, not saying anything. 

"It's not even about you. It's about them. If they flirt at you, and you take it. They got you. If you flirt with them, they got to be the special one. They get to be wild, and bad, and have a good time with no complications." He shook his head, "But, as you say Sam. I'm the one that takes of advantage of them. I cruise into town, take what I want, and break a couple hearts. Right?" He laughed. "Yeah. That's it." He shook his head and then clicked the remote back on. 

Sam watched him for a few minutes, not saying anything. The room was quiet except for the sounds coming from the television. He then slowly got back up, and went back to his laptop. After a few minutes, Sam cleared his throat. "You know... this town has other strange things happening than just that Boogieman problem we took care of."

Dean's gaze flicked over to him, "What?"

"There are a few local ghost stories or urban legends. Some strange deaths reported on the east side, that may be good to look into. It might take a little while."

Dean's eyes studied his brother for a moment before he answered. "Why are you doing this?"

"Dean, there really are some strange things..."

"Sam..." he warned.

"Cause I'm an awesome little brother."   
~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~

Chapter 5:  
~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~

Sam had been right. There was definitely something else going on in this town than just the Boogieman they had taken care of. But what it was, or what they were, was becoming a challenge to find out. He moved his right shoulder around and around in the joint, still trying to get it to feel normal again. It was way too stiff still, and sitting there, looking over stacks and stacks of newspaper articles. Old, smelly, dusty, newspaper articles was not helping. 

He glanced at his watch, again. Gave a small sigh, and then went back to ‘research.’ The bad thing was, he wasn’t even sure what he was looking for. He flipped through a few more pages, and looked at the time again. 

“Will you knock it off,” Sam whispered yet yelled at him. 

“What?” he hissed back quietly.

“You. The watch. Stop looking at it.”

“I’m bored.” Sam rolled his eyes at him. “And we’ve been here for five hours. And we have found nothing useful.”

Sam sighed, but he had to agree with his brother. “Okay. Let’s go over what we do know.”

Dean quickly shut the cover over the old stack of newspapers, throwing up a cloud of dust, and he had to struggle not to go into a sneezing fit. God, he couldn’t wait to get back to the motel and take a shower. One, to get the newspaper grime off him. And two, the hot water over his shoulder sounded fantastic. “Okay, geek boy. What do we have so far?”

Sam gave him a dirty look, and Dean smiled back. “All the deaths, which have happened in the last three months, have all happened in the same way.”

“So the police think they have a serial killer on their hands.”

“Well, in a way, they do.” Sam pointed out to him, “But more than likely not of the human variety. I mean, it could be. But...”

“But all the victims were found inside their own houses. Doors locked from the inside, no forced entry.”

“Some even had active security alarms operating, that never activated, but were shown to work properly.” He pointed to a few of the printed out articles on the victims. “Their bodies were cut into, non-vital internal organs removed. But no blood leading away from the scene. They were also left alive, only to die later from blood loss.”

“That’s what I don’t get. Why leave them alive? And why take an appendix, or one kidney, or some intestines. Is this guy making some weird ass pie?” 

Both of them turned slightly green at the thought of that, and Sam quickly pushed on. Dean glad he did, not wanting to think about it himself either. “Okay... now for the victims. They have nothing in common. At least nothing obvious. Men and women. Different ages. Different races. Different economic status. Different jobs.”

Dean looked at the map of the area. They had marked off where the bodies were found, that of the victims homes. They had also marked the areas where the victims worked, thinking that may shed more light onto how they had been targeted. But, from the looks of things, it was random. Dean sighed, “It seems random. But these things never are. Even when the thing wants to make it seem random. I doubt whatever it is, just took out the phone book and opened a page and pointed.”

“Actually, I checked that too.” Dean gave him the ‘what the fuck? How did you check that?’ face. Sam almost laughed, “Two of victims have unlisted phone numbers, the rest are listed.” 

“Okay. So, we don’t know how these people are targeted.”

“Nope.”

“And we haven’t figured out what or who it is yet.”

“Yep.”

He nodded, “But we do know that it started about 3 months ago.”

“Uh, huh.”

He looked at the dusty newspapers in front of him. “Then tell me again, why we are looking through actual newspapers, when anything that has happened within the last 3 years, is online?”

“Uh, well… Ummmm…” Dean raised his eyebrow at his brother. “I, uhhh. Well…”

“Yes?”

“Well... two of us can’t use my laptop at the same time, and...”

Dean’s eyes widened, “You were keeping me busy!” He loudly hissed, and a few people glanced his way.

“Dean... keep it quiet. We’re in a...” 

He stood up, and grabbed the newspapers and took them back over to the periodicals desk. Giving them back, and returned to their table. “Fine. Then I’m heading back to the motel, taking a damn shower to get this gunk off me.” Sam quickly put the laptop away and tried to follow his brother out of the library. He finally caught up as Dean was getting inside the Impala. 

They both shut the doors at the same time, and Sam looked over to see the glare that Dean was giving him. “Okay. I’m sorry. But, earlier... you were driving me crazy.”

“Crazy?”

Sam rolled his eyes, looked at his watch. “You know, you still have over four hours before you meet her.”

Dean sighed, turned the key in the ignition, and felt his baby purr to life. “Don’t remind me.” He said as he pulled out of the parking lot and onto the road.

He heard the stifled laugh next to him, but ignored it. But he didn’t ignore the comment. “So have you picked out what you are going to wear yet?” But he smiled as his hand hit the back of the passengers head.   
~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~

He could tell that Sam was amused, okay, very amused with him. But he didn’t say anything. Fact was, he was annoyed with himself. Had he actually checked his appearance three times already in the bathroom? Hell, he usually never even looked before he went to the bar at night. He hardly ever even changed clothes after a hunt, unless it had been particularly gruesome. He glanced at his brother and saw his hand over his mouth. He new he was trying hard not to laugh. “Shut up.” 

Sam’s eyes widened, “I didn’t say anything.” He said as his other hand ran over the back of his head. Dean’s eyes smiled, knowing he probably still remembered the smack early in the car. 

“But you’re thinking it.”

“Dude. I’m not the one pacing around the room like a girl.” He cleared his throat at the death glare. He tried a different approach, knowing that his brother actually, had barely ever done this before. “Just, relax.”

Dean sat at the foot of the bed, and rested his face in his hands. He hated this. “Sam... I’ll admit. Yeah, I’m nervous. I don’t... date. I mean, I have. There was... Cassie. And some girls back at our various high schools, and others here are there. But...” he sighed again. “It’s more than that. This is... this is different.” He looked over at his brother. “This isn’t some random girl that I just happen to like. This is...”

Sam nodded, and was glad he wasn’t in his brother position. “The whole supernatural strange coincidence isn’t helping things.”

Dean shook his head, “You’re telling me. I mean... am I reading things into it, more than I should? Or is there really fate and she is the one, no matter what reality it is.” Sam’s eyes widened at that. Dean caught it, “What?”

He shook his head, “Just never thought I would hear those words out of your mouth. Didn’t think you were ‘the One’ type.”

Dean rubbed his fingers over his forehead, and laughed, “Neither did I.” He laid back on the bed, closing his eyes. “Why is it that part of me is hoping tonight just goes horribly wrong?”

Sam smiled, “Cause then everything would be back to normal.”

He opened one eye and looked over at him, “But what if it doesn’t. What if it goes...” he sighed, “perfect.”

“Then you’re in trouble.”

The greenish hazel eyes closed again, “That’s what I thought. Perfect,” he sighed.   
~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~

Things were going bad. Very, very bad. Because they were going so... perfectly. If she smiled like that one more time... Well he wasn’t sure what he would do. 

They were down to just a few bites of food left on each of their plates. Both on their second, or was it third beer? They had already debated about the musical stylings of Zeppelin and Metalica. She had offered to give him the number of her brother’s garage to get the alignment of the Impala corrected. He had smiled when he had picked her up and her eyes had widened on seeing the car. Her mouth ticking off make, model, engine, and everything. Seems her brother, Tom, had a thing for the classics. Dean suspected from her look, and the way her hand trailed softly over the side of the door as she got in and he shut the door behind her, she did too. 

“It really is a shame that they tore down the old drive-in to make room for that new mall.” She said then bit into one of her last onion rings. “Yeah, you’d have to put up with whatever the new movie was for the first show. But then they would play all the great B-horror flicks afterwards.”

Dean laughed, “Yeah, it’s a shame. Where else are the guys going to be able to get the girls alone, and have them willing jump into their arms.” He winked at her and she laughed. 

“Well, every town has their make-out points.”

He raised his eyebrow at her. “Oh, really... do you know this place well?”

She gave a slight blush, “Not so much now as I used too. Especially since I usually work nights, and I’m not a teenager anymore.”

Dean caught the eye of the waitress and signaled for the check. Turning back to her, his eyes twinkled mischievously. “Well then. How about we try and remember what it’s like in an old ’67 Chevy?” He quickly checked the bill, and laid down a few bills on the table, looking back up at her. 

Carmen picked up her glass, swallowed the last of her beer, and as she sat it back down, “Sounds like a plan.” He smiled, got up, took her hand and they hurried out of the restaurant and to the car. Both laughing freely in the bright lights of the parking lot.   
~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~

Chapter 6:  
~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~

Carmen rummaged through the box of tapes, alternately laughing or just smiling at she looked at different ones. “You really need to get at least CD’s if not...”

“Oh, I have most of them on my phone.” He rubbed the dashboard, “Just haven’t updated the baby with the new technology. Not sure I want too.”

He looked out over the city, as she selected a tape and put it in the player. The lights shining up at them as the tape started playing through the speakers, and she turned back to the box looking for more. Dean smiled at the tune. He was thankful it was a weekday night, and not the weekend, cause they were all alone. But it did remind him of the few times back in high school were he got to borrow the car and actually do something pretty similar. But turning to look over at Carmen sitting in the passenger seat, this was nothing like high school. She was not some young teenage girl. She was a woman. ‘Very beautiful, intelligent, sweet...’ His hand came out and absently pushed back some stray hair behind her ear that had fallen in her face. Her dark eyes looked up into his, and he swallowed, hard. ‘Very sexy woman.’

His hand stayed at her cheek, fingers traveling under her chin. Her mouth opened ever so slightly, and he leaned over the seat towards her. His lips met hers softly, tentatively. She leaned into him, and his other arm moved around her, pulling her closer, deepening the kiss. She moved willingly into his arms, her own hands moving up his back, pressing him closer. 

For some reason a million reasons why he should stop right now shot though his mind, but when her legs moved on either side of his hips, and her bottom settled over his lap, those reasons ceased to exist. It was just him and her in that car. His tongue danced at her lips, tasting her. A lingering of dinner, beer, and something so distinctively her, he groaned lightly, getting a full dose as she opened her mouth to allow him entrance. 

His hands moved down to her hips, his fingers looping through the belt loops of her jeans, pulling her more firmly against him. She gave a soft groan against his mouth, as their tongues continued to dance against each other. His hands moved slowly up her back, under her shirt, his finger tips traveling over the soft, warm skin. Her arms pulled him tighter to her, her breasts crushing against him. 

They broke the kiss, allowing deep intakes of breath. Hazel locked with deep brown. He was about ready to speak. To ask. To make sure. To... “Back seat has more room,” she said then almost literally launched herself over the seat and into the back. It took Dean less than a half second to process her words, and maybe another one to catapult himself into the back as well. 

She was back on him as soon as his ass hit the leather. His mouth found the spot behind her ear, making her gasp, and wrap her fingers through his hair at the back of his head. His hands were back under her shirt just as quick, and moving up her skin, sending shivers through her, making her hips move against him. Making him groan at the contact in turn. Her hands moved over his shoulders, down his sides, gripping at the material, and with one husky word, “Off.” He was breaking his mouth away from her as the fabric moved up and over his head, to be flung by her hand into the front seat. 

Dean caught the lust filled look in her eyes, and his hands reached out to the sides of her face, pulling her in for a deep kiss, his tongue moving in forcefully, tasting each and every crevice of that sweet void. Her hands didn’t stay idle, as they now traveled over the soft flesh covering hard muscles. Her fingers flexing at his pecks, his abs, traveling lower to the button of his jeans. His lips pulled away with a gasp, as one finger trailed under the waist band. Taking the opportunity, he pulled the shirt up and over her head. It found its way next to his somewhere over the seat...

 

His eyes filled with the sight of her breasts covered in a pink, lacey bra, but had to shut tightly as she moved her hips against him. Both groaning as she came into contact with the hard evidence of his own state of desire in the confining denim. 

His lips hit her jaw line and worked down her neck. Her head and back arched backwards, his arms bringing her closer to him and his mouth trailed down her chest. Leaving kisses, licks to her exposed skin, down between the valley of her breasts. Her moan echoed through the car, her one hand moving to grip his hair, keeping him firmly attached. Her other hand worked on the button and then the zipper of his pants. 

His fingers flailed over her back, looking for the hook to her bra. Wanting, needing to remove the barrier from his view, from his touch, from his mouth. A soft giggle came from her mouth at his frantic hunting. Her hands came to his wrists and moved them to her chest, showing him the clasp in the front. “Thank God,” he let out as his fingers snapped the fastener, the mounds of flesh falling from the fabric. Her shoulders moved, letting it fall to the floor. His lips were sucking in a pink nipple as soon as his eyes found them, one hand needing the flesh of her other breast, while the other pressed her body to him. 

Her hands hand stilled briefly, small shivers ran through her body as his tongue swirled around the puckered flesh. But she soon finished pulling down the zipper, and her hands moved inside the jeans, behind the boxers. Fingers tips brushed against hard flesh. A deep sucking intake of breath washed over her breast as her hand wrapped around him. His hips jerked up at her, and he gave a loud groan as she squeezed him.

Bright write light flashed behind his eyes, and he took a second, squeezing them shut to hold back, to reign in the feelings coursing through his body. His hips raised off the seat, her knees lifted herself from him, and together they pulled his pants and boxers down and off his legs, after he toed off his boots. She was about ready to toss the pants into the front, when his hand grabbed them, pulling out his wallet. “Might need this,” he said pulling out a square packet. 

She smiled at him, “Thank God one of us was thinking.” She said taking it from him, ripping it open. The wrapper fell to the floor, as her hands moved the latex over his fully hard shaft. His eyes watched her delicate fingers travel over him, his eyes moving up to see her lick her lips, her eyes wide with hunger. 

His hand moved up to the back of her neck, in her hair, bringing her in for a hard kiss, then, “You’re wearing way too much.” She grinned, kissing him back, as she leaned back, resting her bare back on the leather seat. Her legs moved over his lap. Dean’s hands popped the button and unzipped her jeans. His fingers grabbed the waistband of the denim and what his eyes made out as the pink of the matching underwear. She raised her hips, and he pulled the fabric down her long legs, his eyes following his progress to her bare feet. He wasn’t sure when her shoes had come off, but he didn’t care as his eyes trailed back up the naked flesh, to the juncture at her bare thighs. His groin tightening at seeing her slick desire in the sparse, dark curls. His eyes traveled north, seeing the slight flush over her heated skin, then to her dilated eyes, and wild hair from his hands. ‘God,’ he couldn’t think of anything else, as his hands dropped her clothes to the pile on the floor. 

He was over her in an instant. Her legs opening to cradle his body, her arms encircling him, bringing him to her chest, her mouth welcoming his home. His body melted into hers, skin to skin. Her body’s warmth washed over him. Her fingertips traveling over his spine, up his shoulders, making him shiver. Making her pull him closer. Her lips traveled over his cheek, her hips moved against his. His lips traveled down her collar bone moving away from her, his body, his mouth trying to make a path down her body, to a delicious destination. But her ankles locked around him, pulling him back towards her. He groaned against the friction against him, his eyes looking at hers questioning. She shook her head, “Oh no.” He raised an eyebrow. Women didn’t often refuse that. “Maybe next time.” It arched higher on the implication. Her legs tightened and her hips raised against him once more, “No more waiting.”

His arms came down to rest on the seat, palms up grasping her shoulders from underneath. He didn’t need any more of an invitation. His lips found hers, and she released her grip on him enough for his hips to lower, the tip of him to graze over her sensitive bundle of nerves, making her shudder in his arms. His body moved again, and then slowly raised. Both took a deep intake of breath as he gradually entered her body. He took it slow, saving the feeling of her warmth drawing him in. Her inner walls wrapped around him, gripping him as he moved deeper. Her back arched against him, her nails slightly dug at the skin in his shoulders as he pushed his way deeply inside. 

God, she was tight, and hot, and... ‘Heaven’, he thought as he finally managed to bury himself fully inside of her. His body didn’t want to move. He just wanted to stay there forever. Her legs, arms, body, wrapped around him. Her mouth moving over his lips. Her taste and smell permeating his senses. Her fingers caressing his skin. But with a small rock of her hips, the surge of pleasure that rushed through him, wouldn’t let him stay idle. His body rocked back against her, and he felt her gasp against his mouth, breaking their lip lock. 

His grip tightened at her shoulders, and his hips rocked back into her. He watched her eyes close. He pulled out slowly, her dark eyes opening to gaze up at him. He pushed back in gradually, and her eyes closed once more, her mouth opening. His arms cradled her body to him, as he continued to move, long, measured strokes in and out of her. Both moaned at the slow, beautiful torture. Her legs drew against him tighter when he pushed in again. He took the cue, and moved a little faster, a little harder. She bit her lip, trying to stop the gasp. Her nails dug in a little more at his shoulders. But her legs and hips encouraged the harder, more frantic pace. 

Steam fogged up the widows and sweat trickled between them, down his back, as their heated bodies continued moving together. Pushing harder, faster, deeper. Moans and gasps echoing in the small space. Lips and teeth against cheeks, necks, ears. Nipping, grazing, tasting each other’s flesh. Pleasure rippled through each of them at every movement, every push, counter push. He could feel her legs shaking, her shuddering breath at his ear. His tempo increased. The glorious feeling of her inner muscles grasping him, came with a loud gasp, and his name at her lips. Her head rocked back, her mouth opening with small scream, her arms pulling him to her tight. His body continued on, pushing through her confines, blinding pleasure rushing through him at each contraction. His eyes on the beautiful abandon displayed on her features. He was falling. Falling so hard, so fast. He wanted to control it, he tried, he could feel it, but it was happening, it was out of his control. For someone who didn’t want to believe in fate, it was stepping in, forcing his hand. Her dark eyes opened, locked with his, his heart clenched and he was gone. 

She had him. 

Her lips took his again, her hips pushed up into him. His hips pushed harder, his body was right on the edge. Her tongue claimed his, and that was it. He was soaring over, into the abyss. His body lunged into her, exploding. His arms gripped to her tight like a lifeline, as wave after wave passed through him, into her. His body shuddered, and then peaceful calm seeped through him. 

Dean tried to shift, to move, to take his heavy form off her, but she wouldn’t let him pull away. Her arms kept him there, pinned over her, and he let her. His body relaxed into her soft form below him. His face nuzzled into the sweet, soft darkness of her neck. Her fingertips lightly stroked the skin of his back. So soft, so tender. So different than a few frantic moments before, and he welcomed it. He felt the soft palm of her hand against his cheek and he turned into it, kissing it softly. He turned to look at her. Neither of them said anything, their eyes just held, speaking for them. They weren’t sure what to say. Because wow just wasn’t going to cut it. 

Then she moved her leg slightly, and a pained look washed over her face. Worry immediately washed through him, “Are you okay? Did I hurt...”

Her giggling, actually giggling stopped him dead. “No, no.” She bit her lip again, unlocked her ankles from around him, “Damn,” she let out, then laughed again. He pulled back slightly from her, now clearly confused. 

“Carmen… are you…”

She shook her head, laughing, “Leg’s asleep.” Then he understood, realizing just how cramped they actually were, how they were laying, and that her one leg actually was pinned against the back seat, and he started laughing along with her at the mental picture. He got a playful swat to his shoulder for it, and it just made him laugh harder. 

He sat up, effectively pulling himself from her. A moan of disappointment from her produced a smile on his face. His arms scooped her up and brought her up right as well. His one hand moved her legs over his lap, the other reaching out to lightly rub against the one that had been pinned. “Better?” 

She winced a little bit as the blood starting to flow back into the appendage. Her fingers brushed the hair from his forehead, she leaned in, gave a soft kiss, and then said, “A little.” 

“Only a little?”

She nodded, her arms looping around his neck. “Yeah, I think only a nice big bed to stretch out in, is really going to help.”

He looked her in the eye, “Will you be alone in this bed?”

“I was hoping not.” She said as her lips trailed over his neck. He swallowed. “Do you remember how to get back to my place?”

“Oh yeah.” He said quickly helping her back into the front seat, along with himself. Then as quickly as possible they tried to put on their clothes. Or at least as many as they needed to drive back to her apartment, and get inside without being hauled in for public indecency.   
~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~

Chapter 7:  
~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~

Something was annoying him. It was tugging at the edges of his brain. Slowly his mental processes started to kick in and he realized it was his phone. The music just barely audible, muffled by… something. A small moan, part grumble beside him, jarred him out of his semi-sleepy haze, and full complete realization dawned on him. He sat up, and started looking around the room for his jeans. They were… somewhere. The music was still going, and he followed the sound out of bed. The air cold to his naked form, as he tried to find where they and been flung? Dropped? Tossed? He actually couldn’t remember what exactly happened. 

He finally found them, and clicked it on, right before it went to voice mail. “Yeah?” he said quietly, already knowing who it was as he glimpsed the number before answering. 

Dean sat back on the edge of the bed, grabbing part of the warm sheet as a barrier to the cold in the room. His eyes glanced over at the companion next to him. 

‘Where are you?’ 

He rolled his eyes, “Sorry, did I miss curfew?”

A huff came through the phone, ‘It’s after 10 am Dean. You never stay out past...’

Dean cut him off. “Awh. Were you worried about me or just jealous?” He could almost hear Sam’s teeth grinding and he smiled. His hand moved out to lightly push the long dark hair behind her ear, as her face nuzzled into the pillow, trying to stay asleep despite his conversation starting to wake her.

‘Whatever. I take it that it went... You know what. Never mind. I have some information on some work stuff that we need to discuss.’

Dean closed his eyes and rolled his head over his shoulders. Work. Lovely. He looked back over at Carmen and sighed. “Okay. I’ll be there... I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

‘Dean...’ 

“Sam...” he said in his best, don’t start with me voice. “Later.” He said and hung up. 

“You have to go?” came a soft, sleepy reply. 

His head lowered, “Yeah.” He looked back at her, when she moved to sit up on the bed. His hand moved out to caress the side of her face.

She smiled at him, “Well good. Cause I was just about to kick your butt out.”

His eyes widened in shock for a second, until he saw the amusement in her eyes. A smirk came across his face, “You wouldn’t do that.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t would I?”

“Nope. You like it too much.” She laughed, and his hand pulled her in to kiss her. 

She pulled away reluctantly. “Well, do you and your ego have enough time for breakfast? Or a shower before you go?” she said with a small quirk to her lips.

He rolled his shoulder in the socket, “You know, a hot shower might be good. I’m still a little stiff.”

She smiled, “Just a ‘little’ stiff?”

He leaned in closer. “Stiffer by the minute.”

“Well you might need some help with that then.”

“Oh, definitely,” he said before his lips were back on hers.

 

His arms pulled her towards him, the sheet dropping from her, crushing her naked body to his chest. But her legs made it to the edge of the bed, her body pulling away. He watched her stand, a grin on his face as his eyes took her in. “Are you going to stare or follow me?” She asked as she swayed her hips out of the bedroom door. He watched for a second, and then was up and out of the bed and right behind her. His arms moving around her from behind just as her feet hit the entrance to the bathroom, pulling her back against him. 

She turned in his arms as she stepped backwards into the smaller room, pulling him with her. Her bare hip brushed against the real topic of their conversation. His groan made her smile, as her arm reached out behind him, shutting the door. His hands came up to her wrists, pulling them around his neck, his face leaning down to kiss her and continue to back her up towards the shower. 

Carmen pulled away, turned towards the shower and turned on the water. Adjusting the knobs to try and find the right temperature. She turned back to him, “Just give a little bit to heat up.” 

He raised an eyebrow, his hands already reaching for her, and pulling her against him again. “I don’t think that will be a problem.” He said, his mouth trailing over the side of her neck, eliciting a small moan from her mouth. Her one hand ran over his arm, towards his back. But the other was somewhere else. Dean turned his head to the sound, and saw her opening the medicine cabinet. He looked back at her, “I don’t think I’m distracting you enough.” 

She pulled out a small square package, sat it on the sink next to the tub. “Well, unless you were serious about your shoulder and just a shower...” 

“Point taken,” he said in her ear, and then lightly bit her ear lobe, loving the sound and movement of her hips when he did so. 

Steam started to pool from the shower, indicating the water was indeed ready. He backed her towards it, his hand coming out before she went in, testing it, making sure it wasn’t too hot. Satisfied, he helped her in, and then followed. His eyes watched her close her eyes and move under the water. Her hair darkening even more under the water, the liquid flowing down her naked form. He stepped forward, allowing the spray to wash onto both of them. The warm water traveling between them in the small amount of space their wet bodies weren’t touching. 

She turned to the side, and he followed, allowing the water to pour between them. Her hands picked up a pink, plastic, netted, scrubbing type thing and his eyes looked at her questioning. She laughed hard, as she opened a bottle of liquid body soap. His eyebrows raising even more, making her giggle harder. “It’s just vanilla,” she said as she lathered it up in her hands. “No flowers or fruity smells.” 

“Oh kay... But what IS it?” he said looking at it in her hand. She rubbed the thing in question over his shoulder, and around his back to answer him. He stood up straighter at first, and then relaxed into it. His shoulders moved towards her hand as she continued. She just grinned, and leaned up, finding his mouth, as her hands continued to work the soapy netting over his skin. 

After a little while, he was convinced she was having all the fun and took it away from her. He followed her example from before, eliciting another round of laugher from her, as he put on way too much soap. But hey, it got the lather going. Which he had to admit looked rather nice, traveling over her shoulders, her breasts, stomach and lower. He saw her bite her lip out of the corner of his eye, when he is hands trailed over her hips. He dropped the thing to floor and continued with just his hands, her body leaning into his, her arms wrapping around his neck. Her teeth lightly scrapped against his cheek. A small gasp echoed into his ear as his fingertips grazed over her. Her body gave a small jerk when they continued to dance over the tight bundle of nerves. 

Dean felt her legs starting to buckle and pushed her back against the tile, holding her upright, as his thumb pressed against her, his fingers lower, entering her body. She moaned into his mouth, her hips bucked towards his hand, moving with the rhythm he was setting. He pulled away from her mouth, watching her eyes close and head lull back and forth. His other hand moved up her side holding her firmly as he watched her let go. He moved his body against hers, feeling the shuddering go through her body. His lips leaving a trail over her jaw line and neck as her body started to relax into him. 

His hand slowly moved from her, and snaked its way out of the shower. His brain trying to place exactly where she left... His finger tips brushed against the package, and he grabbed it pulling it back into the shower with him. His eyes found hers, and her surprisingly fast hands after everything, took it from him, ripped it open, and flung the wrapper over the rung of the shower. He was about to comment on her eagerness but his breath was stolen from him as her hands settled over his hard shaft. He groaned, his face settling into her neck, as she eased it over him. 

He didn’t even wait for her hands to totally move from him, as his found her hips and hoisted her higher up the wall, pinning her to it, giving him the perfect angle. And with a thrust of his hips, and her legs wrapping around his lower back an instant later he was firmly planted inside of her. He stayed their momentarily taking in the sensation of her liquid heat wrapped around him, the hot water cascading over their bodies and her warm breath at his ear. He braced his arm on the tile at her sides as his hips began to move into her welcoming body. Her arms gripped his back and shoulders, hanging on, and trying to move her hips in counterpoint to his. 

It wasn’t going to take long for either of them. The sensations of everything were overpowering, for already way too long. He plowed into her with deep, hard strokes. His eyes watched her face on each stroke, only to move to her neck, taking in her scent, the feeling becoming just too much. Her fingers tightened on his shoulders, her legs held him harder, and her inner muscles gripped him. With one last push he was crashing against the wall with her. Blinding flashes went off behind his eyes as he exploded in her arms, the water of the shower seeming to wash them away.   
~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~

He shut the motel room door behind him, and started to take off his coat. His eyes glanced over at the silent man sitting behind his laptop, whose eyes were not on the screen in front of him, but just staring back at him. “What?” Dean asked. The silence was slightly unnerving him. 

Sam looked at his watch, then back up at his brother. “Did you stop for lunch? It’s well past noon.”

“God, you are just like a nagging wife. No wonder I’m having an affair.” He draped his coat over the back of a chair and sat down in it. 

“Funny.” Sam sighed, “Seriously...” He said waving his hand in the air, wanting an explanation. 

Dean shook his head and laughed, “Admit it Sammy. You want all the juicy details.” 

“Whatever,” he turned back to his laptop.

Dean stood up and walked over to him, “Well, what can I say. She was...”

Sam cut him off, “I don’t want to hear...”

He shook his head, patting Sam on the shoulder, “And you won’t.” Sam looked up at him confused. “Yeah, I know. I usually give you nice, full details.” He laughed as he walked away, “Mostly just to make you squirm.” He laughed harder at the dirty glare he received. “But she doesn’t deserve that.”

Sam raised an eyebrow but decided not to pursue that aspect. He tried another turning more serious, “Dean... what are you going to tell her?”

Dean sat back down, and ran a hand through his hair. “I have no idea. But, I guess I still have time to think about it, right? Or did you find out the answer to what’s been happening with all these deaths?”

“Well... I think I may have figured some of it out.” Sam saw the slight dread on his brother’s face, “Sorry.”

Dean shook his head, “No, that’s a good thing. At least for whomever the next victim might be.” He stood back up and walked over behind his brother, looking at the laptop, “Whaya got?”

Sam sniffed the air, and then looked up at his brother. “Do I smell...” he tried to place it and leaned in closer to Dean, “Vanilla?”

Dean took a step back and stood up straighter. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Sam tried not to smile. Tried, being the operative word. But as he got a hand whacked to the back of his head, he decided for his own safety to get back on track. “Right. Well, I first found the connection between all the victims.” Sam looked back up over his shoulder again at his brother, “Seems they were all emergency visits to the ER about 4 or 5 months ago.”

A small fear started to seep into Dean’s stomach. “Go on.”

“I hacked into the hospital records to find out who treated them. However, there were too many people on all the charts, and they are still alive. Besides, more than likely each victim was seen by a lot more people then would actually show up on the chart.” Dean nodded, still not liking where this was going. Just the fact alone that it somehow tied into the same hospital that Carmen worked at was enough to unnerve him. So he just waived his brother to hurry up. “Well, I looked at all the deaths that happened during this time period in the city and surrounding area.” Sam sighed, “None of them were employed at the hospital. Not one murder, suicide, accident, even natural death.”

Dean swallowed, “So are we dealing with a spirit, or a live person?”

Sam shook his head, “I’m not sure. But the way it was accomplished still makes me think it’s a spirit, or at least something non-human.”

He moved from behind his brother and started to pace the room, “So we have the general connection.” He looked back at Sam, “What did they go to the ER for?”

“Different things. Times were varied.” 

Great. That didn’t even limit it to a certain shift. Dean sighed, closed his eyes, and dropped his head. Hating what he was about to do. He then walked over to his coat, fished out his phone. Sam gave him a strange look as he picked the number from his contact list, and called. He put the phone up to his ear, his other hand moving over his face.

“Hey, it’s me.” He said putting a smile into his voice, even though he didn’t feel it. “I know you’re working tonight. But...” he took a deep breath. “Can I stop by and take you down to the cafeteria for dinner?”

Sam gave a small grimace turning back to his laptop not wanting to listen, knowing what Dean was about to do for their job.   
~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~

Chapter 8:  
~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~

He sat in the car, his hands gripping the steering wheel. His eyes were closed, as he took a deep breath, and then let it out slowly. He knew he had to get out of the car. He knew he had to walk into the hospital and meet her with a huge, fake smile on his face. He knew he had to come up with some story to tell her, for her to believe, for her to start talking, to get the information they needed. His knuckles turned white around the wheel, and his shoulders tensed. He lowered his head to rest against the leather between his hands. He took another deep breath, and then, “Let’s do this.”

Dean opened the door to the Impala and strolled into the ER like he didn’t have a care in the world. His grinning face nodded to a few people as he walked up to the nurses desk. The young blonde behind the counter smiled up at him. “Can I help you?” her voice sugary sweet.

Normally a different line would have sprung from his mouth, but for many reasons it died today. “I’m looking for Carmen Porter. Dr. Porter.”

The smile left the girls face, “I’ll see if I can find her. Your name?”

“Dean.” She nodded and turned to someone else. He moved out of the way, and stood to the side waiting. Taking a look around, and another few deep breathes. He still wasn’t sure what he was going to do. He had made up quite a few alternatives in his mind on the way there. Sam’s words still echoing in his head. ‘What are you going to tell her?’ He closed his eyes for a second. ‘Are you going to tell her the truth?’ He remembered the instant ‘No,’ that sprang from his lips, and the shocked look on his brother’s face. He had learned already, that the full truth was just something that he could never give. At least not to someone who had no clue about things that went bump in the night. 

He opened his eyes when he heard his name, his head rotating towards the sound. His mouth turned into a genuine smile at seeing her, but then his brain caught up and it changed. “Carmen,” he said as he walked towards her. “So, are you free yet, or do you want me to wait for you?”

“Oh, I’m sooooo ready for a break,” she said. “So, if you can ‘drag’ be away, I’ll consider you my personal hero.”

He took her hand, “Well then my fair damsel, let me whisk you away to the safety of the cafeteria.” He then raised an eyebrow, as they walked down the hallway, “Unless you know something about the food they serve that I don’t.”

She started to giggle as they got into the elevator.   
~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~

Their trays found a table in a quiet corner, and both took their seats across from each other. “There is just way too much green on that plate.”

“What?” She asked as she picked up her fork, “I happen to love their Chicken Chopped salad.” She looked over at his plate and pointed with her fork, “You know a little green or some fruit would be good for you.”

He shook his head, “Now you sound like my brother.” 

She smiled, “So he’s the healthy one.” Carmen winked at him, “Well you know an apple a day keeps the doctor away.”

Dean smiled and reached out for her hand, “But I don’t want to keep the doctor away.”

She shook her head, “Cute.”

“I know I am,” he said with a wink, which just made her laugh. He let go of her hand and picked up his hamburger. “So how’s work going?” he asked nonchalant as he took a bite.

“Busy, as always, but not too bad.” She took a bite of her salad, and continued, “I know I complain. But, it could be worse.”

He nodded, and tried to direct the conversation, “You ever have anything really crazy come in?”

“Besides you and your brother?” He laughed as he stuck a french fry into his mouth. “Oh, there’s always something crazy or interesting coming in.” 

“Oh really? Like what?” He asked sitting up, taking interest, as if he was looking to hear a good story. 

She smiled and finished her sip of ice tea. “All kinds of things. From strange do-it-yourself accidents with nail guns to couples trying new things with gadgets or how to manuals.” Dean choked on his soda. “Yeah, those can be interesting. Especially getting them to admit to how it actually happened.” 

He nodded, “Yeah, but I’m sure some of it can’t be funny. There has had to be some pretty scary stuff too.” He saw the light flicker out of her eyes, and he was sure that some of those experiences had flashed through her brain, and he instantly regretted having asked it. “Sorry,” he blurted out, “I’m sure you don’t want…”

She cut him off, “No it’s okay. It’s part of the job. And a lot of the time, in the end, it actually turns out okay. Sometimes you get someone in, and you think there is just no possible way you’re going to be able to save them. And then we do. Somehow. Sometimes we don’t. But... when we do.” She smiled, “The rest is worth it.”

He nodded, “Yeah. I understand what you mean.” He looked down at his plate and dragged a fry though some ketchup, deciding to continue, “Have you had to deal with any of those strange murders that have been happening?”

“You’ve read about those huh?” She shook her head, “Well, they weren’t exactly murders I guess, since they were left alive.” Carmen gave a small shudder. “Yeah, I saw two of them. One...” She shook her head, “We worked on her for over 2 hours. But...” She shook her head again, “The other one, they lost him right before he got here. DOA.” 

“Different injuries, but same person right? At least that’s what the police believe.”

She nodded, “Yeah. Me and some of the other doctors, those that were here on the other occasions, have talked about it. Told the police the same thing. These cuts, these organ removals.” She stopped, took another drink, and then looked him in the eye, “They were done with precision. I swear this person had to know what they were doing.” Again shaking her head, “But. Why? What is the purpose to remove those organs? It makes no sense.” She sighed, “But then again I guess crazy doesn’t need to make sense.” 

Dean nodded, “I guess the police have no leads. At least that’s what the news has said.”

“Yeah, and they’ve interviewed everyone here on staff. Because I think they believe, like we do here, that it’s got to be someone with a medical background. But, everyone here has a concrete alibi for at least a few of the incidents. So unless a couple of people are doing it...”

He agreed, “So they’ve talked to everyone currently on staff. Did they talk to everyone that worked here before it all started happening?”

“I have no idea. Why do you ask?”

“Well, just thinking, that maybe the person doesn’t work here anymore. Has anyone left the staff around the time the first one happened?”

“Of course, people come and go from working in the hospital all the time.”

“Doctors come and go that often?”

She laughed, “No, not doctors. Staff in general.”

“Yeah, but staff that would make those ‘precise’ cuts?”

He watched her tilt her head and think about it. “Hmmm, not really. I mean, a few. Not a lot though.” She took another drink, her mind thinking. “Besides I just can’t ‘see’ any of them doing that.”

“Well, you never know. You could be sitting across from a crazy killer right now.”

She just gave him a huge smile back at him, “Uh huh. Yeah, oh kay.” Her hand came out and her finger trailed down the side of his face, “That I just can’t see.” 

He gave her a grin back, took another sip of soda, “Seriously though. Who left around then?”

“Maybe a handful of people. Two of them got better jobs in different area’s of the country.”

“Yeah, so unless they are commuting.”

“Exactly. Another one, well, she went out on Maternity leave, and just decided not to come back.”

He shook his head, “Doubt she has the kid strapped to her back doing that.”

She agreed. “Nikki left to go live with her boyfriend up state somewhere. And Joe retired at 83.” 

“Police underestimate the abilities of the old geezers.” She laughed, but he continued, “He’s still alive though, right?”

“Yeah, on some beach in Florida.” 

“Hmmm. Interesting. No one else huh? No one leave mysteriously?”

She gave him a puzzled look, “Mysteriously?”

“You know, no one just not show up for work one day, no call, no reason?”

“I don’t think so. But then I wouldn’t be the one they report that too.” She tilted her head again, “You’re really interested in his.”

He waived her statement away. “Oh it’s nothing. I just watch way to many crime dramas. Sam’s always telling me I watch too much television.”

She grinned. “Oh, so you want to be the next CSI?”

Dean look appalled, “GOD no, I HATE that show.” 

Carmen laughed, “Yeah, so do I.”  
~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~

They walked out of the elevator, “Yeah, I know, can they mope on that show anymore than they do? And, I don’t know how many times I just want to scream, ‘that doesn’t happen in a hospital’!” 

He smiled, “Yeah, I have no idea how that dribble can get the best ratings week in and week out.” 

Carmen nodded, “Because networks force sex and those god awful reality shows down the audience’s throats and expects the American people to just take it.”

They stopped back at the nurses station, “Oh, don’t get me started on reality shows.” She grinned up at him as he smiled back at her, “Well, I guess I better let you get back to work.”

She sighed looking around, “I suppose.”

Dean looked left and then right, and leaned down, “I’m going to do something that’s going to cause a lot of rumors to spread.”

Her eyes sparkled, “Oh, really? What’s that?”

“This,” he said. His hand came up to the side of her face, as he leaned down and kissed her. She leaned into it, kissing him back. He slowly pulled away. “Give me a call when you get off work, and after you’ve had some sleep.” She nodded, and he continued. “Or, give me a call, if you... can’t sleep.”

“Oh, really? Why is that? Do you have a cure for insomnia.”

He nodded, “Yep, best one around.” He got a playful hit to his shoulder.

She shook her head, and pushed lightly at his chest, “Okay, get out of here. I have to get back to work.” Dean nodded and walked towards the exit, he turned back once, and saw her give a small wave, and he smiled in response, and then walked out the doors. 

He opened the door and sat down inside the Impala. He grabbed his phone and speed dialed. “Hey. Look up a ‘Nikki’ who worked there around that time.” He sighed, “No, I don’t have anything further on that name. And it might be nothing at all. Just do your thing, and I’ll be there soon.” He ended the call, and put his cell back in his coat. 

“Well that could have gone a lot worse.” He told himself as her started up the car. He just knew that eventually he was going to have to make a decision. He just didn’t know if the case was going to do it for him or not. But like she had said, when you can save that one person, the rest... the rest is all worth it. Right? 

~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~

Chapter 9:  
~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~

Before he even had the door closed behind him, his ears were being attacked with information. “Nicole Harris, 28, single. Just started some type of training to be a surgeon under Dr. Reynolds a couple of months before she gave her last minute notice of leaving and moving to the hospital. Her last day? Just over three months ago.” 

Dean laid his coat on the bed, and sat down next to it. “Now, Carmen says she moved upstate to be with her boyfriend. Is there any records of this Nicole Harris in any of the hospitals upstate?”

Sam shook his head from behind his laptop, “Not ‘this’ Nicole Harris anywhere in this state or surrounding states.”

He rested his elbows on his knees, and propped his chin on his fists looking over at his moppy haired brother, “I mean I don’t truly understand women. But, do you really think this 28 year old, new surgeon, really left at the beginning of her training to move upstate with a boyfriend and then not even get another position there?”

“Doubt it.”

Dean stood up and walked behind Sam to look at the laptop, his hands on the back of the chair. “Now, do we happen to know who the boyfriend is?”

Sam laughed, “That wasn’t contained in the hospital records.” 

“What about emergency contacts?”

He looked up over his shoulder, raised an eyebrow, and then went back to the computer, hacking back through the computer. Feeling a little better when the contact listed was just a friend. 

“Interesting.”

He looked back up over his shoulder, “What?”

“She only has one, and it’s a friend.” He leaned closer, “Local. That’s good.”

Again Sam questioned, “What is interesting?”

Dean looked at him, “Well. One usually puts family on emergency contacts. Even if not local.”

Sam squirmed in his chair, realizing that in college he had made up his emergency contacts, but he didn’t say anything. 

Dean wrote down the name, address, and phone number. He then pulled out his cell phone and called the number. Sam gave him a shocked look for his abruptness, and he waived him away. “Uh, yes. Stephanie…” he looked at the paper, “Van.. Vanhousen.” He waited and then smiled at the confirmation. “Yes, this is St. George Medical Center. First, no cause to worry.” He threw that in quickly, knowing a hospital calling was never good news. “It’s just that we are trying to find Nicole Harris, and can’t seem to reach her at the number she left. You were listed in our records as one of her contacts, and were hoping you could help us reach her. It’s for a final check we owe her.” He smiled over at Sam. He was really too good at this. He listened to the girl, and nodded. “Really?” That was interesting. “Well, do you know the name and phone number of her boyfriend that she moved with. We could contact him.” His eyes widened, and he looked over at Sam. He nodded with the phone listening a little longer, “Oh, okay.” He nodded a few more times, “Well thank you anyways.”

Sam looked at him, “Didn’t get anything?”

Dean scratched the back of his head with the antenna of his cell phone. “Oh, no. I got some information.”

He sat down. “Seems Nicole hasn’t talked to her friend for a few months before the move.”

“Why?”

“They had a large falling out about Nicole’s behavior at work. And she was all too eager to share.” He waited for Sam to give him the ‘look,’ he couldn’t help it. He liked making him wait and being the one to have the info. Turnabout was fair play. “Seems there is no ‘boyfriend’ unless you count the ‘affair’ with a certain older doctor.”

Sam’s eyes widened, “Dr. Reynolds.”

Dean nodded, “Married, Dr. Reynolds.”

“So, something between Nicole and the good doctor soured and she needed to leave.” He ran his hand through his hair, “But why didn’t she get a job somewhere else?”

“Maybe she never intended to leave. Maybe she never did.”

Sam bobbed his head, “Do you think he killed her? And now she’s a vengeful spirit?”

He sighed, “Him, the wife, who knows who did it. But the question is...”

“Where’s the body?”

Dean nodded and than ran his hands together, “Still have the lighter fluid and salt in the trunk?”

~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~

And that was the hard question to answer. Where was the body? It could be anywhere. So they had to figure out exactly what happened, and they were pretty sure they didn’t have much time. Because the longer they took, the more likely Nicole was going to try and practice her new surgeon skills on another emergency room victim that she had helped to treat. 

Once having figured out the connection, Sam had of course tried to figure out all the people that Nicole had treated in the ER, but the list was numerous, and as he pointed out, she might not have been on the record but still saw the patient at some point. Because two of the previous victims did not list her on their chart. However, she was working at all the times that the victims were in the hospital. So, that fact alone, lead them to believe they truly had figured out the reason behind the killings. 

Sam was digging up as much information as he could find on the girl. Which wasn’t much. “She was practically an orphan. Made her own way through school. Kept to herself it seemed like.” He paused and sighed, “No wonder why no one really missed her, and just believed the story of her leaving.”

Dean thought about it for a minute, his brow wrinkling, “But... I wonder who started the story?”

“Good question.”

He sighed, and rolled his head. He knew how he could get his answer, and he picked up his cell phone again.

~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~

He sat on the hood of his car as he watched her walk out of the building. She made her way over to the parking lot, her pace quickening and lips smiling once she saw him. He stood up and once she got to him, he leaned down and kissed her. 

“Can I follow you home?”

Carmen grinned, “Are you a lost little puppy?” He gave her his own set of puppy dog eyes, which honestly, held a little bit of horn dog in them. She shook her head, “How can I say no to that?”

His smile grew, “You can’t. Besides...” he motioned to the seat inside the car, and the bag sitting there. “I brought Chinese food.”

She took her keys out of her purse, “Okay, you win. Follow me home.” 

He nodded and got back in the car, and watched her walk over to hers, get in, and start up the engine. He sighed. Now he only had to figure out a way to get back on the ‘topic’ he needed to ask about. But how? He asked himself as he followed her out of the lot and back to her place.

~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~

Chinese food containers were half empty. Partially used chop sticks were on the table, replaced by plastic forks. A half bottle of wine, sat next to the partially empty glasses. “So, I guess every workplace is like its own little soap opera.”

She smiled, “Oh yeah. The rumor mill is crazy. I’m sure most of it is just that, rumor. But, I’m sure there is more that goes on then we even gossip about.”

“Oh, I’m sure. Affairs between the staff msut be rampant. Married people getting jealous. Ever see any fights?” he said with a raised eyebrow.

Carmen laughed, “Nothing physical, but I did witness a screaming match between one female resident and wife of another doctor once.”

“Really?”

She nodded, “The wife accused the resident of having an affair with her husband.” 

“Was she?”

He got a laugh as a response, “If you had seen her boyfriend at the time, and the doctor in question. You would be laughing at the thought as well.”

“I take it the wife was wrong.”

“Very wrong. But she was convinced the girl was.”

“Does the doctor still work there?”

“Oh yeah, he’s one of the surgeons in the hospital.”

Dean nodded. “So nothing was done?”

“Well, it was an absurd accusation, and the wife has been known to be a little... how should we say it... ‘out there’?”

He laughed, “That crazy huh?”

“Jealous more like it. Why he would stay with her is the question. I honestly don’t think anyone would blame him if he did have an affair.” 

“Maybe he was having one, but the wife got the wrong person.”

Carmen tilted her head, “I guess that’s possible.” 

“Did the wife ever come back and make accusations against anyone else?”

“Not that I know of. But I’m not there all of the time.”

“Yeah, but as you said. The place is a rumor mill. I’m sure if she did, it must get around.”

She gave him another strange look, and sat up a little straighter. “I suppose so. Unless it didn’t happen in front of a lot of people.”

He nodded, she had a point. “This ‘crazy’ wife, do you think she was ‘crazy’ enough to do anything drastic?”

“Drastic?”

“Do you think she was just full of words, or do you think she would have taken action against someone who was having an affair with her husband.”

“Are you asking me, if I think she would hurt someone?”

Dean shrugged, “Yeah. Just wondering how far you would think she would go to keep her husband.” 

“What are you implying?” she questioned.

He stopped realizing from her body language that he needed to backtrack, quickly. “Just my curiosity getting the better of me.”

She shook her head, “You are way too interested in this,” she said flat out. She wrapped her arms around her sides and stood up.

‘Too late,’ he thought with a grimace.

“This is more than you liking crime dramas on TV.” She turned back to him. “What is going on?”

Millions of lies, millions of responses, wanted to spill from his lips. But he just couldn’t. He didn’t want to lie to her. But, he couldn’t tell her the truth. He floundered for a little bit. His mouth opening and closing, trying to figure out what to say.

She shook her head. “Get out.”

His eyes widened, “What?”

“I said get out. If you can’t tell me a simple answer, to a simple question. Which it looks like you are going to just lie about. I can’t trust you. And I don’t want you here.”

He stood up, “Carmen. Wait. Please.” She moved away from him, and he cringed. “Carmen...”

She waved her hand up in the air, not wanting to hear it. 

“Okay. Okay.” He let out a deep breath. “Me and my brother...” He stopped, “We...” She turned to face him, his eyes scanned her face. He still couldn’t do it. Not… totally. “We’re... investigators.” 

“What?”

“I know... it... sounds strange. But, we’re private investigators.”

She shook her head, “You have to be kidding me.”

“No. Listen. We get hired to do these ‘cases.’ We try and find people and things. We travel all around the country for this. The reason we are staying in a hotel.”

She sat down on the arm of her couch, and he could tell that she was actually listening to him, so he continued. “I don’t usually tell people. Cause, well, we do like to keep a cover in a way. And two,” he gave a small laugh, “Most girls just think it’s a come on line.” He tried to give her a small smile, “Like, I’m with the FBI, or a secret operative or something.” He saw her lips quirk slightly, and took a breath hoping that was a good sign. “The reason we found those kids...” he shook his head, “It wasn’t random. We were looking for someone, and luckily, happened to stumble on them.” She gave a slight nod, as if that made sense. 

He took a deep breath. “I’m sorry.” He stopped only a second, “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. But what I did, well... you never really asked. So I never divulged.” He saw her about to say something, and kept going, “And I’m sorry, I tried to get information from you at lunch about the case we are currently on, without telling you why. I just...” He looked down for a second, look a breath, then back up into her dark eyes, and jumped in. “I just really like you, and I didn’t want to ruin it. But... this is really important.” He stopped just a second. “But believe me. None of this.” He pointed between himself and her, “None of it, was for the case. This,” he pointed again, “was... is real.” He looked down, “At least to me it is.”

Then he stopped, and it seemed like he was holding his breath for an eternity. Waiting, just waiting for her to say... something. 

“What are you investigating?” came the soft question.

Dean slowly looked up into her eyes. He could see she was keeping herself guarded, still very leery, but also curious. Wanting to believe him. 

He knew he was slightly lying to her, but not totally. “We’re working for a couple of the victim’s families of these murders. Trying to figure out who is doing it. Trying to give a little bit of justice.”

She nodded, “What does Nikki have to do with this?”

“Seems she has gone missing.” Carmen’s eyes widened. “We can’t find the said boyfriend she supposedly moved upstate with. We can’t find any records of her working in another hospital. Her friends haven’t spoken with her.”

“Well, isn’t that strange? Wouldn’t someone report it?”

“Guess she kept to herself, not much family.”

Carmen nodded, “Well that’s true.” She said and moved onto the cushion of the couch. He looked over at her with a questioning look. She shook her head at him, “I’m NOT happy with you.” 

He nodded, “If it helps... I’m NOT happy with me.”

She gave a quick smile, “Good.” She rubbed the back of her neck, “Well, I didn’t really know Nikki. Like you said. She kept to herself. It was more rumor than anything...” And with that she began to tell him everything that she knew. 

~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~

Chapter 10:  
~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~

Sam’s head quickly scanned the clock and then turned to the opening door. Dean caught the small grimace on his brother’s face before he tired to mask it. “What?”

“Uhhh...” he sighed, “Sorry man. I guess it didn’t go well.”

He shrugged as he walked over and threw himself onto the bed, kicking off his shoes. “Well, yes and no.”

“You’re back way too early for things to be ‘good’.”

He sighed, rubbing his hand over his face. “Well, she’s not exactly happy with me at the moment.”

Sam’s eyes widened, “What did you do? What did you tell her? What did you say? What...”

Dean cut him off, “Whoah, slow down with the twenty questions.” Sam came over and sat on the other bed facing him. He sighed, and started to relay the story. “Well, I guess my questions became a little too obvious. And she... well... she demanded answers, or basically told me to get out.”

“What did you say? Did you tell her?”

He sat up on the bed, “Yes and no.” He saw the look from his brother and sighed. “I told her enough, without telling her everything.” With another look, he continued, “I told her we were private investigators. That we were helping some of the families of the murder victims find out who was doing it. And through another case, we had found those kids.”

Sam nodded, “Well, we sort of are. Just, not exactly working for anyone.”

Dean agreed, “Yeah, but... it still feels...”

“Wrong?”

He looked down, and rubbed the back of his neck.

“But what else where you supposed to tell her? The truth?” Sam leaned against his elbows on his knees, “Would she believe it? And if she did... would you really want to put the truth on her like that?”

Dean closed his eyes, “That’s the problem. That’s the exact problem. I wouldn’t want her to believe me. I wish she could live in complete ignorance of what is really out there.” 

There was a long silence at that. Because neither of them really knew what to say. It was just the harsh part of reality that was their lives.

“So, she believed what you told her?”

He nodded, “Yeah. But...” He sighed, “She was not happy that I ‘lied’ to her. Or kept it from her.”

“Do you blame her?”

Dean shook his head, “How can I? Hell, I wouldn’t blame her if she punched me, and kicked my ass out of her apartment.”

Sam laughed, gave him a serious look over, “Well, it doesn’t look like she did that.” 

He grinned back at his brother, “No, she didn’t. She tried to move past her anger and tried to help.”

“Really?”

Dean laid back on the bed, his legs hanging over the edge. “What can I say, she’s a remarkable woman.” Sam tried not to laugh, really, he did try, but it came out anyway. “What?” he asked raising his head slightly from the mattress to look over at his brother.

“Nothing...” He shook his head, “Nothing at all.”

He gave a dirty look, “Sam...”

The warning was all to clear in the tone. “You said, ‘remarkable woman’.” 

An instant later a pillow was plastered against his face, and he swore he heard a muffled, “Shut up,” from across the room.   
~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~

Ten fifty three Oakfield Lane looked like almost every other house in the neighborhood at nine twenty seven in the morning. Either vacant or mothers with their young children getting ready to head off to the store. So it seemed like nothing new for two Jehovah witnesses to be walking in the neighborhood at that time, knocking on doors to spread the word. But if anyone was actually paying attention they might have thought it was weird for the Jehovah witnesses to be opening the front door, and letting themselves in to an empty house. 

“God I hate these clothes,” Dean said as he tugged at the collar of the shirt once again. 

Sam laughed as they made their way through the good doctor’s home. “It’s not ‘that’ bad.”

Dean rolled his eyes and started to move into what looked like a home office. “Okay, let’s hurry up in here. The wifey is only out to Yoga for maybe two hours.”

He nodded his silent response and sat down at the computer desk, “I’m not sure how we are going to find anything. We aren’t even sure who did it. Where it happened.”

“I know. But maybe we can find something.” He looked around the office. “Okay, you take the Doctor. I’ll take the wife.” And with that, Dean was out of the office and working his way up to the bedroom. His vision was immediately assaulted with pink roses and ribbons all over the bedroom. “Poor guy,” he thought and started to go through the nightstands. 

One could hope for a diary, but the chances of that were small, and if there was one, would she really have written down what she did? Well, she could be that crazy, but he didn’t think that would happen. Finding nothing in the drawers, he looked under the mattress. Still unlucky, he went to the jewelry box. 

He shook his head. Besides some very expensive, though gaudy pieces, still nothing. But he was getting a sense that the doctor was paying out a small fortune for everything that his wife had. He then traveled into the master bathroom, and opened the medicine cabinet. Bingo. Bottles, and bottles of different prescriptions lined the cabinets. 

Dean grabbed a pin and small pad of paper out of his coat, and started to write the names down of all the drugs under the wife’s name. There were ten or so different prescriptions, most of which he had never heard off. He then did another small sweep of the bedroom, and then exited. He checked the other rooms upstairs to find a guest bedroom, bath, and a hall linen closet. He skipped back down the stairs and stuck his head into the den, “Anything?”

Sam shook his head, “Clean as a whistle. At least so far. But there are so many files on here.” He then pointed to a sheet of paper with some scribbling on it, “But I did get his information on two separate email accounts we can check out later.” Dean nodded and headed towards the kitchen. “Hey, we’ve only got like ten minutes. And no eating their food!”

The kitchen door opened, and Dean wanted to run back into the other room. Bright red apples and cows decorated the interior. From the drapes to the plates on the walls. Did this woman have nothing else to do but decorate each room into a complete and true Suzie Homemaker feel? He looked around a little bit and then left to go find Sam, “Can we get out of here?”

Sam stood up and they walked towards the front door, “What’s wrong?”

“This place gives me the creeps.”

“What?” He looked around, “This place?” He motioned to the walls, “It’s a completely typical household.”

Dean shook his head, “No, it’s not. This is ‘Leave It to Beaver’ but only set in the present and on Prozac.” 

Sam laughed as they discretely exited the house and got to the sidewalk. Now they just had to get back to the hotel and pour through the little bit of information they found.   
~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~

The one email box was clean. Nothing at all from Nikki to or from the doctor. Nothing from the wife either. Just a bunch of boring friends and family or spam mail. Sam was now looking through the other online email. Inbox was basically empty, but there were a ton of folders. And while some of them seemed unrelated by the name, it didn’t mean that they wouldn’t find something interesting. 

And interesting is exactly what they did find. Nikki wasn’t as shy as she let on to everyone else. Dean snickered behind Sam’s shoulder. Sam looked over at him, “What?”

He shook his head, “See... I’m telling you... it’s the quiet, innocent looking ones.” He sighed, his eyes traveling to ceiling as if lost in thought about how exactly he had come up with and tested this hypothesis.”

“Dude, Carmen?” Sam reminded him.

He seemed to jump back to reality, “Hey, we’re dating. I’m not a monk.”

Sam’s eyebrows raised, “Dating? You’re dating?”

A swift smack to the back of the head and then a “Shut up and get back to work,” followed. He leaned down on the back of the chair, “Is there any more photos in there of Nikki?”

“Well, there are lots of attachments.” Sam shook his head, and clicked on another one. Both brother’s heads went back with a “Whoah!”

“Okay, that’s just wrong.” Dean finally managed to get out, even though his head tilted to the side as if he could make the image have a better angle.

Sam tilted his head the other way, “Is that a morgue table?”

Both of them leaned in closer to the screen, trying to make out the room that she was posing in. “Do you think she took these in the hospital? Actually, took them in the hospital morgue?” 

Sam turned in his chair to look up at him, “Yeah. I think so. Do you think they ever... you know…”

Dean laughed and patted his brother on the shoulder. “It’s okay, you can say it. And yes, I think Freaky Nikki and the Good Doctor had sex in the morgue.” He walked away from the computer, “So, I guess we have a new place to look for some clues.”

Sam nodded in agreement as he continued to go through the rest of the folders of email.   
~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~

Chapter 11:  
~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~

Their white coats flapped against their pant legs as they quickly opened each door, looked at the body inside, shut the door, and then moved on to the next. They were pretty sure they weren’t going to find Nikki in the hospital morgue. But when dealing with people, you never knew just how crazy they might be. However the brothers didn’t expect what happened next, since the morgue assistant was out for his dinner break, and no one should have been in there. Well, neither should they be in there, but that was beside the point.

“You know what I find interesting?”

Dean straightened up immediately at the voice, his eyes closing at the familiarity. Sam’s eyes went wide across from him, and he swallowed hard. Neither said a word.

Carmen slowly walked towards them, “That my ‘boyfriend’,” she laughed at the term. “Funny that huh? I guess that’s what the rumor is from that kiss in the lobby the other day. So, your fault I guess.” She moved right to the head of the table they had just pulled out, standing over the body, a brother on each side. She gave only a brief glance to Sam, and then turned to Dean. “That my boyfriend was a new doctor here in the hospital.” She nodded pointedly at him, “Interesting that, huh?”

“Carmen... I…” he was caught, and he knew it. He watched her just stare at him, waiting for an answer. “I...”

She shook her head, and looked over at Sam. “You have anything to say to help your brother?”

He looked back and forth between the two, put up his hands, “I’m not touching this.”

She rolled her eyes, “Men.” She crossed her arms and turned back to Dean, her eyebrows raised higher.

He sighed, “It’s for the case we talked about. Nikki and the doctor worked down here. Did... ‘stuff’ together down here, and...”

“Stuff?”

Sam cleared his throat, “We found some, uhhh, pictures.” 

Carmen turned towards him, raising her eyebrow again. “Where did you find these pictures?” He shut his mouth and she looked back to a guilty Dean.

“Carmen, please. We needed to come in here to find clues. To find out what happened.”

She shook her head, “Did you ever think of asking me to look? I mean, I do have clearance to be here.”

Sam piped in, “We’re looking for certain things that you might not...” She turned back to him, and Dean ran his hand over his throat, trying to shut him up, but it was too late.

“So, I’m not smart enough to look for a body of a previous co-worker?”

Dean quickly started talking, “No, no. That’s not it at all.” She turned back to him, her fingers lightly drumming against her crossed arms. “We’re not looking for a body. We’re pretty sure we won’t find it. We’re looking for other evidence.” From her look, he knew he really wasn’t helping. “Carmen, really, it’s stuff you wouldn’t look for. You’re not trained to look for, like we are. We have to be here to look...”

She cut him off, “Then why didn’t you ask me to take you on a tour?” His eyes widened, and he looked over at Sam. Both were actually shocked, neither had even really thought of asking. She looked back and forth between them, “It didn’t occur to either one of you, did it?”

“Uhhh, no.” He rubbed the back of his neck, “But, actually, I just didn’t want to involve you in this. I didn’t want any chance of you getting in trouble.”

She nodded, “Well. Too late. I am involved. And I can’t have my supposed ‘boyfriend’ pretending to be a doctor walking around the hospital.” She rolled her eyes. “So take those dang jackets off before someone walks in here.” The boys did as they were told, and handed them to her when her hand reached out for them. She sighed and walked over to the door, and leaned against it. She waved her hands, “What are you waiting for?”

The guys looked at each other, then back to her, in clear confusion. Hadn’t they just been found out? “Huh?” Sam finally said.

Carmen rolled her eyes again. “Get done with your search. At least with me here, I know you won’t mess up anything. And if anyone comes in, I’m just giving my ‘boyfriend’,” she said with a grin and teasing voice, “and his brother a tour of the place.”

Dean turned back to Sam with a huge smile on his face that basically said, ‘I told you she rocks.’ The brothers shook off their shock quickly, and got back to work looking around the morgue.  
~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~

They really hadn’t found anything in the morgue, not that they thought they would. It had been too long since Nikki’s disappearance. The three of them were walking back to the ER, and Dean looked towards Sam a brief second and tilted his head towards the door. Sam got the hint, “Uhhh... I’ll go wait in the car.” He said and quickly left through the sliding doors.

Carmen turned fully towards Dean. He swallowed, took a breath and then, “Thank you. I mean... I know that… we should have... I should have... I’m just...”

She sighed at him, “Stop. Don’t hurt yourself.”

“No, it’s not that I can’t. I just, don’t know what to say. I’m just surprised and...”

She grabbed his hands to shut him up. He looked down at them, and then back up into her dark eyes. “Dean. I for some crazy reason believe you. That you are trying to do your job. To find out what is happening. And I want to help. These murders are terrifying. And the police have no leads. Heck, until you and Sam, we didn’t even know Nikki was missing.” His hands gripped hers tighter. “Just don’t hide things from me. If you need my help. Talk to me. Let me help you.”

Dean closed his eyes, “Thanks.” He then reopened them, and found her gazing up at him with a soft smile, and then a thought hit him. “Actually. I do have a couple of things you could answer for me.”

“Okay. What?”

He fished around in his pocket and then came out with a piece of paper. He unfolded it and handed it to her. “Don’t ask how I know.” She shook her head and gave a small laugh as she read the list, her eyes getting wider as she did. “But this is the list of medications that Mrs. Reynolds is taking.”

“You’re kidding me.”

“What?”

She looked up at him, “She’s taking all of these?”

“Well, I don’t know if she is taking them all at the same time. I mean, it’s just currently prescribed.” 

Carmen shook her head, “She’d be like a walking zombie.”

Dean tried not to smile at her choice of words, and continued, “What do you mean?”

“These drugs. Some are major anti-depressants. And these doses... No wonder she hasn’t been complaining about her husband, and just saying sweet things. She probably thinks everything is all roses and sunshine.”

Remembering the house he almost laughed. She handed him the note back, and he went on. “One last thing.” She tilted her head and waited. “What happens with the bodies in the morgue?”

“Well, that depends.”

“On what?”

“Lots of factors. What is the body there for? Are we holding it for the family to take it? Is it there for an autopsy? For medical research?”

He thought about it for a minute. “Say a body that was not going to a funeral home, or involved in a criminal case. Say… a body after medical research was done to it.”

Carmen thought about it for a minute. “Still it would depend on a lot of factors. If the body still had parts, it could have been cut up and then sent for student research.” Dean grimaced at that possibility. The thought that Nikki’s body was in pieces all over the country would not make putting her spirit to rest an easy one. “But if it’s completely used, or the parts that we have left are no longer useful, then we would burn them.”

“Cremation?”

“Yes, basically.” He nodded. This was not good news. Because he had a feeling that Nikki was disposed of by Dr. Reynolds in one of those ways. Neither would make it easy to stop her spirit from striking again. 

He gave her a smile. “Thank you.” She just smiled. His hands left her, and his hand came out, but stopped before brushing against the side of her face. 

“What?” she asked seeing him hesitate.

“I don’t know if you’re still angry enough at me, that you’d be upset if I kissed you.”

“Well, it might actually, help the ‘anger’ if you did.”

Dean grinned and his hand went to the side of her face, pulling her in for a kiss.   
~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~

“So Mrs. Reynolds is either self-medicating or being medicated,” Sam said leaning back in his chair and taking a swig of beer from the bottle in his hand.

Dean nodded and clicked the mouse button opening another picture. “However, I would say the doctor is medicating her. I don’t think anyone would take that much stuff willingly. And even if she was, he would have to be the one to get it and prescribe it for her.”

Sam agreed with his eyes and took another drink. “And Nikki’s body has either been cremated or hacked into bits and sent who knows where.”

“More than likely.”

He dropped his arms, and let the beer bottle swing between his legs as he started to think. “So, since we can’t salt and burn the bones...”

“We have to try something else.” They looked at each other. “Bring justice for her killing...”

“Oh yeah... and how exactly are we going to do that? Besides... you know spirits don’t think the American sense of justice is true justice.”

Dean smiled, “You ever think they have it right?”

Sam’s eyes widened, “Dean!?”

He shrugged, “Just thinking. Just curious. Geez.” He scratched at the stubble on the side of his face, while thinking and looking at the computer screen. “Besides justice. There’s other stuff right?” He tiled his head, and squinted his eyes at the picture.

“Well, yeah. It depends on what happened though, and other factors...” Sam stood up and walked towards the computer, “And why are you looking at the naked pictures of Nikki?”

Dean looked up at him, “Research.” Sam gave him a look, “Seriously, dude.” Sam still held the look. “I’m not kidding. I’m looking at the room. Trying to see if I can make anything out in there. Or on her.”

“On her? She’s naked Dean.” Sam shook his head and went to go back at sit down, “You are seriously perverted.”

Dean looked over at his brother, “Sam... I’m not looking at the naked dead chick. Besides, if I really wanted to, I could go see Carmen, and trust me...” He smiled at the image of her naked body laying next to him, “Nikki has nothing on her.”

Sam shook his head. “She’s got you, doesn’t she?”

That got a strange look, “What do you mean, got me?”

“Carmen. She’s ‘got’ you. You... you’ve fallen for her.”

“Sam, we don’t have time for this. The longer we take to figure this out, someone else is going...”

His brother cut him off, “We’re at a standstill. We almost need something to happen to have a clue.” He hated to admit that, but it was true. “Besides you are just avoiding the question.”

Dean sighed, “So what if I am? So what if I’ve fallen for her? Can you really blame me?”

Sam looked down, he honestly couldn’t. “No. But what are you going to do?”

Dean closed his eyes, “I have no idea. But I’m not going to worry about it right now.” He pointed back at the computer screen, “I’m going to work on this case, and hopefully something will just jump out at us.” And that something did. His head tilted once again to the side, and his mouth turned up at the corners. “Oh, and you are wrong.”

Sam’s eyebrows crinkled together, “About what?”

“Nikki does have something on her.”

He got back up and stood behind Dean, leaning over his shoulder. He then watched his brother point at the screen. His eyes taking in a necklace, with some sort of pendant hanging from it. The both moved in closer to the screen, and Dean clicked a few buttons to enlarge that part of the image. “It’s reflective.”

“Almost like a mirror?” Dean asked. 

“Could be.”

Dean scratched as his stubble again, “You know what the strange thing is?”

“What?”

“I think I’ve seen it before.”  
~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~

Chapter 12:  
~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~

“So what do you want to ask me?”

Dean sighed, and reached across the table and took her hand. “Carmen. Yes, I have a question about the case to ask you. But...”

She tiled her head, looked down at their hands and then over at him in the fairly empty diner. She didn’t remove her hand, but gave him a quizative look.

“God, I hate this.” He finally said not looking at her. 

She squeezed his fingers back, “What? What is going on?” She leaned closer to him over the table, her other hand coming out and lifting his chin to look at her. “Just tell me.”

He reached up and took her hand under his chin in his other hand, then lowered them to the table. His eyes finally looking at her. “I want to. Yet... I don’t.” 

She nodded, and bit her lip. Her body started to sit back, her hands pulling away, but he kept a firm grasp on them. Not letting her go. “Not for any reason you can possibly be thinking.” 

“You have no idea what I could possibly be thinking.” He looked down again, and she sighed. “Dean. I can’t do THIS.” She said pulling and pushing at his hands, indicating the two of them, “Without you being honest with me.”

He let go of her hands, “But I can’t tell you. I can’t.”

“Why not?” she asked grabbing his hands back. “What are you married?” He shook his head almost with a laugh.

“Have kids?”

“Not that I’m aware of.”

“Gay?”

He chocked, his eyes wide. But then his eyebrow raised his lips curving, “If you need more proof that is NOT the case, I’m more than willing to give it.”

She pushed his hands away and sat back, shaking her head, trying not to grin. She then let out a huff, trying to get her previous state of mind back. Why did he have to have that way about him? 

“Carmen, really. It’s not that I’m trying to hurt you. I’m not telling you, so you don’t get hurt.”

She leaned back over the table, “Hurt from what? Not knowing has to be worse.”

He shook his head, “Carmen. This job. The things that my brother and I do for this job... I just. I don’t want to expose you to that. I don’t want you to see some of the stuff that we have.”

She rolled her eyes, “I’m not a porcelain doll. I’m an ER doctor for crying out loud. What do you think I see all the time?”

Dean looked her in the eye. “It’s not the blood. It’s not the hurt people. It’s the stuff that causes that. The cause of it... you shouldn’t... no one should have to...” He stopped. “I just want to protect you from what I see.”

Her shoulders slumped slightly. “Dean, I’m not a child.”

He smiled, “Trust me. I know that.”

“Oh no. Don’t do that.”

“Do what?”

“You always try to change the subject. Or lighten the mood, by turning on the charm. The sexual innuendo. Or humor. You use them both as defense mechanisms.” She reached for his one hand again, and pulled it towards her, jerking him closer to the table. “And I’m not going to fall for it.”

He was going to make a funny comment, and it died on his lips. “Carmen. I’m sorry. But I just can’t tell you. And...” his jaw tensed as he stared at the table. “If you can’t or won’t accept that. Then.” He bit as his lip. “Then you’ll just have to break up with me.”

She looked at him for a minute. Her brow scrunched together, and then she asked, “When did we start going out?”

Dean looked up into her dark eyes, “What?”

Carmen smiled, “Well, in order to break up. You have to be in a relationship to begin with.” 

He blinked a few times at the realization. He actually didn’t know. He didn’t know when he had just come to assume that they were together. Or, it really hadn’t crossed his mind that they were or they weren’t. 

She wanted to laugh at the looks, expressions, emotions that were quickly moving over his face. “You really aren’t sure what to do about all this are you?” He hated to admit it, but he shook his head no. She nodded, and then admitted herself, “Neither am I.”

They sat there for a minute in silence, and his eyes drifted over to their hands. They were still holding on to each other. His thumb lightly moved over the back of her hand and his hazel eyes moved slowly back to hers. She gave a soft smile, and then sighed, “Well... since we’re at a slight standstill with all that. How about we get to that question you have for me.”

Dean really didn’t want to move on to the case. But she had a point. He wasn’t going to budge on the other. And she didn’t seem like she was going to stop pestering. Well, she had for the time being, but he knew, she wasn’t the type to just let things go. But he knew he also needed answers too. He took out the printed pictures. They had been cropped and blown up enough to show part of Nikki’s face and the necklace. He handed them over the table to Carmen.

She let go of his hand to take a look at the photos. “I’m not even going to ask what she’s doing in these.”

He smiled, “Okay. You see the necklace?” She nodded. “Do you ever remember her wearing that?”

“Oh, yeah.”

“Really?”

She looked up at him, “Yeah, I asked her about it. Because it was so different.”

“How was it different?”

“Well the pendant was actually a small little mirror. I mean I’ve seen silver charms that almost acted like a mirror, but this was an actual mirror. Everything would reflect off of it.”

“When did she start wearing it? Did she wear it all the time?”

She shrugged her shoulders. “I have no clue. I barely ever saw her or talked to her.”

“If you barely ever talked to her, then how did you see the necklace?”

She grinned, and rolled her eyes. “Stupid really. I broke a beaker. When I was cleaning up the glass, I cut my hand. Had to get a few stitches. Nikki stitched me up. When she was putting them in, the necklace was there dangling in my face, so I looked at it. Asked her about it.” She smiled, and gave a soft laugh, “Now that I think about it, she did blush when I asked her where she got it from. She just said her boyfriend got it for her. I guess that’s why I believe she had left with him.”

Dean’s mouth had gone completely dry. “Nikki, saw you in the emergency room.” She nodded. “She gave you the stitches in your hand?”

“Uh, huh. Why?”

He didn’t answer, “You looked at the necklace. Touched it even?”

She laughed, giving him a strange look. “Yeah... Even saw my reflection in the mirror.” She titled her head again, “Why?”

He couldn’t talk, and his heart rate had gone up considerably. “Just interesting.” He said and took a sip of water from the glass on the table.

“Interesting?” She shook her head at him, “You’ve lost all the color in your face. It’s like you just saw a ghost.” Dean almost spit the water out, and started to cough. He sputtered for a minute. “Are you okay?” 

She was about ready to get up and pat him on the back, when his hand reached out and gripped hers. His other waved her to stop. “No, I’m okay.”

“Okay. What is going on?” she demanded.

“I’m going home with you.”

She did a double take, “Excuse me?”

“You are NOT going home alone.”  
~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~

Chapter 13:  
~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~

She was at a complete loss for words. Not only from what he had just said. But the way he had said it. That, and the look on his face. His face... Why did it seem like he had went into a complete panic from what she had just told him. “What? What’s wrong? Why?” Now that she seemed to have found her voice, it was just full of questions, and the display of emotions running over him, kept those questions coming. 

And truth be told, he was panicking. Because in some strange way he thought he had pieced together how the victims were being chosen, and if he was right. He swallowed hard looking over a Carmen. Well, the thought frightened him. “I know this is going to sound completely crazy.”

“Try me.”

“I’m really worried for your safety right now.”

She gave him a strange look. “Why?” She couldn’t understand it. “Because I looked at her necklace?” She shook her head, “But only Nikki knows I have seen it. Well, and you now. And she’s missing, or... worse.” 

He closed his eyes for a second. “Carmen, I know this doesn’t make any sense. But, please trust me on this one.”

“Trust you?” She shook her head again, “Do you know how many times you have basically asked me that, and have barely told me anything?”

Dean squeezed his eyes shut, realizing she did have a good point, but unsure how to proceed. However, there was so much more that could be lost if this wasn’t handled correctly, he wasn’t sure what to do. He looked up into her dark eyes, and in an instant he made a decision. The only thing that mattered was to make sure that she was safe. 

“Okay. I’ll tell you. I’ll tell you everything. I promise. The absolute truth. But...”

“But what?” she asked.

He took a deep breath. “You have to let me and Sam protect you.”

She cut him off, “From who?”

Dean took her hand and squeezed it. “I promise I’ll explain. But, besides that... You have to listen, and keep a VERY open mind.”

She slowly pulled her hand from his, “You’re starting to freak me out.”

“I know, and trust me, this is just the start of it.” With that he pulled out his cell phone and dialed, “Yeah. It’s me. I’m coming to pick you up and we’re heading to Carmen’s place. Bring the Journal and your laptop. I’ll explain later.” She gave him a strange look from across the table, mouthing ‘Journal’? He clicked off the phone, laid some money on the table, stood up, and offered his hand to her. “Carmen. Do you trust me?” And with that question he took off any mask, and laid his emotions out there for her.

She looked up into his hazel eyes, and slowly, very slowly her hand finally reached out and took his hand.  
~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~

Sam had no clue what was going on. The car ride over had been silent. And when he meant silent, he meant silent. As in not even music playing. The car had parked out front, he had gotten out of the backseat, got their bags in the process and followed the two up to the door. Dean had only looked at him a few times. Carmen had only glanced at him a couple, and barely looked at Dean at all. He wasn’t sure what was happening, but he was sure of one thing. There was major trouble in paradise.

She let them in. Put her keys and purse on the table, walked into the living room. Dean followed and sat down on the couch, as she paced back and forth in front of the coffee table. Sam took his brother’s lead and sat down on the couch next to him. For some strange reason he felt like he had been summoned into the principles office for something, yet he had no idea what for.

Carmen waited, but as the silence started to drag on, she couldn’t take it anymore, stopped and turned to both of them, “Well is someone going to start explaining or what?”

Dean gave a small cough, took a deep breath and stood up. “You might want to sit down.”

She wasn’t sure she wanted to sit. She liked to pace when she was nervous or thinking. That and she also had a feeling she might need to run. Not that she could actually get far with the two of them. Why did she agree to this again? Then she looked at him, and those damn eyes looked back her. She cussed at herself and moved over to the chair and sat down. 

He watched her trying to decide, and finally let out his breath when she sat down. He then took a seat in front of her, on the trunk that served as her coffee table. He slowly reached out for her hands, and was grateful when she allowed him to take one in each of his. “Okay, I promised you the truth.”

Sam’s eyes widened at his words, and his lips spoke before his brain caught up, “Dean?”

He didn’t even turn around to his brother. “Shut it Sam.” His voice forceful to his brother, but then gentle as he continued on, “And you agreed to listen, try to keep an open mind, and let us protect you.”

“Protect her...”

He cut him off, this time looking over at him with a stern look. Sam then realized that now was not a good time to talk at all. Because whatever it was that was making him tell her the truth, it had to be serious.

Dean took a deep breath. “Carmen. I’m really not sure how to even start with this. But know. I’m not making this up. I’m not crazy. I’m not trying to hurt you.” He saw her swallow but not say anything. “When you asked who would try and hurt you. The answer to that question is Nikki.”

“But... she’s missing. Or worse, how could...” she let it trail off, showing her confusion. “Are you saying she’s alive, hiding, and doing the murders?”

“Yes and no.” He took another breath, “Yes, I believe she is behind the murders. But no, I do not believe she is alive.”

She blinked a couple times, closed her eyes, shook her head, but it still was not processing. “What?”

“I believe that Nikki was murdered a little over three months ago.”

“Then how could she be the killer?”

“I believe that when she was killed, it created a vengeful spirit.”

“Spirit?” She didn’t think she had heard him correctly, “A ghost?” She tried to pull her hands from him and set back in her chair, “A GHOST?”

He held on tighter. “I know how it sounds.”

She managed to remove herself from him and quickly get out of her chair and walk over to the corner of the living room. “You’re trying to tell me that Nikki is Casper and killing people because she’s pissed off?”

Sam almost wanted to laugh, because, yes, in essence that was what his brother was telling her. But somehow he managed to keep his face straight. Laughter at that moment really would not have been appropriate.

Dean stood slowly, not making any sudden movements. He didn’t advance towards her, but kept himself on the same level as she was. “In essence, yes.”

“You are nuts.”

“I really, really, wish that was the case. But no. I’m not.”

She ran her hand over her face, “You’re telling me ghosts are real. What next, vampires and werewolves?” Dean looked over at Sam, and Sam shrugged his shoulders. She looked at the too of them. “Okay, where are the cameras? Seriously, this is some type of joke.”

Sam decided he was going to try an help, “Carmen.” When her accusing eyes landed on him, he had second thoughts, but he still went on. “You know all those urban legends?” She gave a slight nod. “Well, quite a few of them, are not just stories. Almost all stories, at least to some extent are based on a little bit of truth.”

She shook her head, “Yes, a tiny bit of truth. But not that there are real ghosts or monsters. Just something that could resemble...”

Dean cut her off, “I really wish that was the case. But it’s not.”

“This is insane,” she said as she wrapped her arms around herself and started to pace back and forth.

Dean looked over at his brother. “Take out the journal and the laptop. We need the pictures.” Sam started to rummage through his bag, as Dean turned back to her. “Now I know you can try and say we doctored these photos. But I’m telling you this is not Weekly World News. And neither Sam or myself are that talented with Photoshop.”

Sam got the laptop, sat it on the coffee table, and then turned it on. He sat the journal down next to it. He looked up at his brother, “Dean. I know you are trying to explain something. But, uhh... why is Carmen in danger from Nikki?”

Dean looked from Sam to Carmen. Realizing he hadn’t yet explained that part to anyone really. But when his eyes met hers again, he realized that Sam could stay in the dark a little bit longer. He didn’t have to worry about Sam bolting from the room. “I’ll get to that later.” He said and turned back to the woman whom he had to somehow convince that all those horrible things, that children were scared of, that parents said weren’t real, were in fact a reality.

“Remember when I said that I see things I never wanted you to have to see?” She gave a small nod. “This is what I was talking about. Most people go through their lives, blissfully unaware of what is going on around them. All those bumps in the night. We convince ourselves it’s just the house settling. It’s just termites or rats. It’s just electrical problems, or like here... a crazy serial killer.” He looked away for an instant trying to get more strength to go on. Oh how he hated this. When his eyes returned to her, he saw her hands running up and down her arms. He could see that she was scared. And the thing that worried him was that he wasn’t sure if he was scared of the things he was telling her was real, or if she was scared of him. 

“Okay, it’s on.” Sam said softly.

Dean gave a nod in acknowledgement and then asked, “Are you willing to at least look and judge after seeing our proof?”

Carmen bit her lip, and her gaze went from him to the laptop and then back. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to see or hear more. Her brain was in complete denial. Part of her wanted to demand them out of her apartment, out of her life, and that she could just chalk this up as some crazy affair to laugh at when she got older. But another part of her was curious. Curious to see what was on that laptop. Her scientific brain urging her to take a look, and then pick apart every bit of this so-called evidence. To prove to them, that they were crazy. But then again, there was that tiny smidgen of her, that was worried that by what she saw might prove them correct, prove that they were telling the truth, and she had no idea how she would deal with that.  
~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~

Chapter 14:  
~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~

He could almost see her weighing the options in her head. Her eyes moving back and forth, the fear of all the unknown. Both of him and of what he was telling her. Everything screaming at her better judgment. He couldn’t blame her. He really couldn’t. Honestly he was surprised he had gotten this far. “Please,” he said softly. 

Her lip was slightly trembling. Heck her whole body was. Every sense of her being was screaming at her to run for it and call the cops. However, there was something, just something in her that made her stay where she was. She could see his concern. She could see that at the very least to him, he was telling her what he thought was the truth. She just had a feeling that he wasn’t there to hurt her. He wasn’t saying this, or doing this to hurt her. She knew that she didn’t have to worry about him, or even his brother hurting her. At least not in the physical sense. Emotionally... well that was a completely different story. 

Carmen slowly walked over to the couch and took a seat next to Sam. Sam looked up at Dean and saw him close his eyes and let out a breath. Their eyes then met, and he could tell his older brother wasn’t sure to stay where he was or move next to her. But after a second he moved to the other side of Sam, leaving some distance between them. Sam realized he was becoming the buffer, and he didn’t blame him in one bit. He nodded, “Okay. What first?” he asked.

“Go to our collection. Not the stuff from the sites or books we’ve copied. Our actual photo’s.” Sam followed his instructions and went into their folder. Which was then subcategorized. 

Dean looked over at him with a small smile, “You really are a computer geek aren’t you?”

“Dude? What? It’s gotta be organized for easy usage.”

Dean sighed and rolled his eyes. “Dork,” he said again a little more quietly. “Some of these are quite gruesome, but I’m hoping your doctor’s stomach can handle them.” He looked over at her and saw her eyes looking at the screen waiting for the pictures.

“Start with the video of the ghosts we got on your video phone.” Sam nodded and called up the media player. He watched the laptop out of the corner of his eye, but kept his focus on her. And slowly, very slowly they started going through the video, audio, and still images that they had collected. Sometimes calling up newspaper articles or scans of old books to back up the images. 

About a third of the way through Carmen stood up abruptly and walked to the other side of the room, “Stop.” She said softly, her arms wrapped around her. “I don’t want to see anything else.”

Dean slowly stood up and walked to the middle of the living room. “Carmen...” he ventured, trying to figure out the exact reason she wanted to stop. Stop, she didn’t believe them. Stop it was too gruesome to look at. Stop, I believe you and don’t want to. She turned towards him, and he saw the tears streaming down her cheeks, her body shaking. Immediately he took steps towards her, and she stepped back, away from him, and he halted immediately.

Her arms came out and waved him off, “No, don’t. No more.”

“I need to know what you are thinking.”

She shook her head, her arms wrapping around her once more. The water dripped down her face, drops splattered her shirt. Her eyes glanced at the laptop and then back to him. “That...,” one hand came out, a finger pointing towards the computer, “That, can’t be...” she shook her head, “That CAN’T be real. It just...” she shook her head again, her eyes closing. “It’s not possible. It’s just...” She shook her head again, her shoulders shaking, the tears flowing. And he didn’t care if she waved him away, or tried to get away, he walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her. Held onto her shuddering form.

Her whole body went ridged in his arms, and then slowly, she sank against him. Her face hiding in his shirt, the wetness soaking though to his skin. Her hands moved to grip at his shirt. Her mouth mumbling that it just couldn’t be true. It just couldn’t. Dean leaned his check against the top of her head, his arms holding her, his hands softly moving over her back. Softly his voice talking into her ear. “I’m sorry. I wish it wasn’t. I wish it wasn’t true. I wish you didn’t have to know. I’m sorry.” Over and over again, her repeated the mantra to her as his body rocked her gently back and forth.   
~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~

Sam had moved the laptop, the journal, and himself into the kitchen leaving the other two alone. Dean had picked her up and moved the both of them over to her couch. She was curled up in his arms, over his lap. His arms still holding onto her, as her face was in his neck. The tears had stopped. So had the shaking. Just an occasional shuddering intake of breath remained. She had been so quiet for so long, he almost jumped when her small voice finally spoke. “You know... when I was a child... I swear I had saw a ghost in my grandmothers old farm house.” She gave a soft, quaking laugh, “My mother told me I was just imagining things.” She gave another soft laugh, “However I had overheard my grandmother telling my mother later, that I may have saw George.”

“George?” Dean asked quietly. 

She gave a small nod, “I guess that’s what my grandmother would call whatever it was. However, ‘George’ never did anything too bad. Just show up now and then, move things.”

He nodded, “Well, all ghosts aren’t bad.” He felt her move her face to look at him, questioning. “Some of them just can’t move on. Something is keeping them here.” He saw her lip tremble. “Carmen. Some of the stuff, isn’t all bad.” His finger tips ran over her back. He gave a small laugh, “Actually ran into a group of Vampires that refused to drink human blood, chose cattle instead.” He gave a soft smile, “And some ghosts that only wanted to tell those whom would listen what happened to them. Even warn them of the vengeful spirit that was there.” 

She gave a slight nod, “But generally...”

He nodded in reluctance, “But generally, no, it’s not good. But...” His hand came out to the side of her cheek, “But if you know it exists. If you can see the signs. Then you can either prevent harm, or stop it from happening again.”

“So that’s what you do. What you and Sam do.” He nodded. “Why?”

Dean tilted his head, “What do you mean, why?”

“Why do you do it? Why do you put yourself in danger? What got you started with this?” 

“Well I did tell you I’d tell you everything, didn’t I?” She nodded, so did he, and he continued with a little bit of reluctance. “Well, it all started when I was four.” 

Her eyes widened. “Four years old?”

He nodded, “Sam was six months old. There was a fire in his nursery, and our mother died. Dad was a wreak.”

“What happened?” She asked sitting up a little more, wanting to hear what had started him and his brother down this path. This crazy journey.

“I carried Sam out. Dad went back for mom. She was pinned to the ceiling, her stomach cut open, and the whole place burst into flames.” He saw her eyes go wide. “Of course the firemen said it as an electrical short, an accident, and that there was no way that what my father saw happened. That it was just grief.”

“Oh, God.” She could only imagine what that would do to anyone.

“Well, Dad couldn’t. Wouldn’t let it go. We left Lawrence. Kansas. Dad had to know what killed his wife.” 

She watched his eyes kind of cloud over as memories filtered through his brain. And she let him talk. Part of her wondering if he had ever told anyone all of this. If he had even recounted some of the childhood memories to Sam. 

He wasn’t sure at what point during his retelling of the past, that her arms had started to hold him, or that her fingers were the ones that had turned to comfort him, but he didn’t care. He just leaned into her, and let the words spill from his mouth, from his soul. The years of weight seeming to seep from his shoulders. 

She watched his eyes, the colors changing as different emotions went through him as he continued to talk. A tear left her own eye when he talked about his father, what he had done for him. She found it almost hard to breath. A few hours ago, she would have thought it completely insane, but right now, for some reason, with everything, she believed it, believed him. But still every fiber of her being wished she didn’t. Wished it was untrue. And now she understood, she understood completely why before he didn’t want to tell her. Why he had been so hesitant to tell her the truth. Why he kept it from her. 

And then he got to the Djinn... and he stopped. His eyes looked at her, and he debated if he should tell her, or skip it. Part of him didn’t want her to know, for fear of what she would think. That he was only with her because of that. But another part of him, needed to tell her. Wanted to tell her. She had listened to everything else he had to say. But what would she think?

Carmen saw him stop. Saw the debate going on. “What?” she asked.

“Huh?” he stalled.

“You stopped.” She tilted her head, “You said you’d tell me the truth, tell me everything.”

He closed his eyes, and then reopened them. “I know I did. I’m just worried that I’ve already freaked you out enough for one day.”

She gave a small smile, “That’s for sure. But why stop now? Might as well get it all out there.” Dean hugged her tight to him, and then leaned in and kissed her. She stilled for a moment, but then relaxed into it, kissing him back. They slowly broke away. “Why?” she questioned.

“Just in case you won’t let me do it again.”

“It can’t be worse than what you’ve already told me can it?”

He swallowed, “Well, it depends on how you take it. Since it has to do with you. And... Well...”

“Tell me.”

“Remember when I first woke up, and thought that I had met you before?”

She nodded, and smiled, “Yeah, but you recognized me from that ad.”

He nodded, “Yes. True. And more than likely that is exactly it.” He smiled, “And more than likely it’s that I liked that ad so much, the rest of it was just my subconscious.” She gave him a questioning look. “But... I sort of had a run in with a Djinn.”

“A what?”

“Basically a genie.”

She blinked a few times, “A three wishes, magical person from inside a lamp, genie?”

Dean laughed. He let out a genuine laugh. Sam heard it and smiled over his laptop from the kitchen. He had heard them talking in the living room. Only bits and pieces here and there. He really had wanted to eaves drop when Dean had been talking about their childhood. But he didn’t. He had stayed at the table, and let them have their privacy. He continued to work on the case. But there was only so much he could do without knowing what Dean had figured out. He was trying to be patient. But his patience was growing thin.

Dean smiled at her. “Well, kind of. That’s the Disney version. We found out, that it’s not like that. I wish it was. But it’s not. Basically, they make you believe in your head that your wish came true.”

“In your head?” she asked, and he started to explain to her what the Djinn did and why. And then he told her that the Djinn had ‘got’ him and tried to make him believe what he had wanted had come true.

“What did you want?” she asked him.

“That my mother had never died,” she nodded in understanding. He shook his head, “But everything was not peachy.” She gave him a stange look. “Dad was dead, of a stroke. Sam and I didn’t get along.” She rubbed his shoulder, knowing that had to hurt. She could already tell how close him and Sam where. “But...” he smiled at her. “But my relationship with you was wonderful.”

She sat up straight, “What?”

“See this is the part I was worried about.”

“Me?”

He sighed, “In that world. You were my girlfriend. Carmen Porter. We lived together back in Kansas. And you were a nurse.”

Her eyes went wide, “You’re joking.” He shook his head. “You’re absolutely serious.” He nodded. “How... how can that be?” He shrugged his shoulders. “I mean...” she blushed slightly, “I could maybe, maybe understand your subconscious putting me in there from the ad. But... how could you know my name, and the whole nurse or doctor thing.”

Dean shook his head again. “Why do you think I was so freaked out when I woke up and you were my doctor. I thought that I might not have made it out of that dream world. Sam had a hell of a hard time convincing me.”

Carmen shook her head, she was still reeling. “Okay. I think this is going to take years of therapy to process.” Then she rubbed her hand over her forehead, “Yeah, like anyone would believe me. They’d have me committed.”

He smiled at her. “Well, you aren’t jumping off my lap. Can I take that as a good sign?” Then she lost it. Actually lost it, and started laughing. Laughing hard. And the look on his face, made her laugh even harder. “Carmen?” he asked and she continued to laugh. Laugh so much that he spotted Sam in the doorway from the kitchen wondering what was going on. He was actually getting worried that she might have lost it. They had put a lot on her in a short amount of time, “Carmen... are you okay?”

She looked at him, shaking her head, “Okay? Am I okay?” She laughed again, “I find out that the man I’m seeing is really a supernatural hunter. That he’s already had a vision of a relationship with me. That ghosts and goblins are real. And that one of these crazy things is going to possibly try and kill me.” She laughed again, “Oh yeah... I’m just fine!” Then she stopped laughing abruptly, her shoulders slumping, and a hand went to her forehead. She then looked up at him, “What do we do now?”  
~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~

Chapter 15:  
~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~

And that was the question. What did they do now? Dean looked over a Sam in the doorway. “Well I guess it’s time I finally let you in on why I think Nikki might try and hurt Carmen.”

“Yeah, I’d like to know that myself.” She said from his lap. She then turned to see Sam moving back into the living room with his laptop and she moved off Dean and onto the couch. 

“Remember the necklace?” Sam nodded at his brother’s question, as he got himself situated in the chair with the laptop on the table. “The pendant is a mirror.” Sam nodded again. “Not just a shiny silver surface, a real mirror.”

Sam looked over at him, “Your not thinking another Mary Worthington are you?” Carmen gave them both a strange look.

“Bloody Mary? No, not exactly. I don’t think she’s traveling in mirrors.”

“Bloody Mary? BLOODY MARY?” Carmen shook her head, than ran her hand over her forehead, “This isn’t happening, this isn’t happening.” She repeated to herself a few times. 

The brothers glanced at her, knew she was still trying to come to terms with it, and Dean continued. “However, I think the necklace is the key, and the mirror on it.”

“How exactly?”

Dean sat down on the box table, and started to explain. “Say Dr. Reynolds gave Nikki this necklace. And say she would wear it to work, but most people didn’t see it, usually under her clothes, or they just never got a good look at it.”

Sam nodded again, “That would explain why it hasn’t been more people being hurt since Nikki treated a lot of patients.”

“But say, it was more than just seeing the necklace. Maybe they actually touched it, or looked into the mirror.”

“Like an image of them, got into the mirror, and Nikki is tapping off those images somehow to figure out whom her victims are?” 

Dean nodded, “Yeah, I know it’s a stretch, and strange, but...”

“We’ve seen much stranger.” He looked over at Carmen, “So how does...?”

Carmen looked down and sighed, “I touched and looked at the mirror on the necklace.” 

“Ahhh.” Sam said and looked back at Dean. “But, she could be among a number of people. There could be a ton of people before her.”

“Yeah, or she might not have an order to it.”

“That’s not true.” They both looked at him, and Dean motioned with his hands. “I did another check of the victims. They were killed in exactly the same order that they had visited the hospital.” 

Dean took a breath, “The last victim?”

Sam looked at his laptop. “They went to the hospital in mid February.” They both then looked over at Carmen. 

“I’m not sure of the date exactly. But...” she closed her eyes, “It was late February early March.” 

Dean ran his hand though his hair, he was really hoping the last victim had happened after Carmen had received the stitches from Nikki. 

Carmen shook her head, “But Nikki would have seen a TON of patients in between those times. I’m sure I should be fine for quite some time. You need to find out whom will be next. I mean...”

“Carmen...” Sam started. “The victims vary from the same day just different time, and up to three weeks apart.” He then had another thought, “And with the time we are dealing with, being winter, she probably wore...”

She cut him off, “Wore clothes that covered the necklace.” She sighed, “So what’s the plan? How do you get rid of a ghost that’s trying to kill you? Do we just wait for it or something?”

“Well the easiest way to stop a ghost is to salt and burn the bones.” 

“Oh kay.” She nodded and shook her head, “I’ll take your word on that.”

Dean smiled, he could tell she was really trying to deal with all this the best she could. “However, in Nikki’s case that really isn’t an option. Because we don’t know where the body is, and it might already be cremated.”

Carmen’s eyes looked at him, and then she understood some of the questions he had asked her previously. He gave her a soft smile, knowing she had figured it out. 

Sam chimed in, “However, sometimes spirits latch themselves on to other objects. Mirrors, automobiles...” He gave Dean a look, and his brother rolled his eyes. He coughed slightly, “In this case, we think it’s the Necklace. Obviously something she really liked. And something it seems the Dr. gave to her.” 

“And if he’s the one that killed her...” 

She actually saw where they were going with this, but it still didn’t make sense, “But why kill innocent people? Why not go after Dr. Reynolds or his wife even?”

“That would make sense. But spirits... well, they get confused. Their right and wrong gets a little messed up. They just get angry, and they want to hurt something, because they were.”

“So we need to find this necklace?” The brothers nodded in unison, and she tried not to smile. But then she sighed, “But how? Maybe the necklace was disposed of with Nikki’s body.”

Dean shook his head, “I don’t think so. I think it’s still around.”

Sam looked up at him, “Why do you think that?”

He shook his head again, “I just.” He pinched the bridge of his nose trying to think. “I swear I’ve seen it before.” He tapped his fingers on the table. 

“You’ve just looked at the naked pictures too much.” Sam mocked him. Carmen’s eyebrow arched at him. Dean leaned over and smacked his brother upside the head. “Ouch!” Sam yelled, and rubbed the side of his head. 

She gave a slight laugh, and shook her head at the two of them. Then she thought of it. “Well IF the necklace is still around. More than likely whomever killed her, is the one that has it.”

“We already looked at the Reynolds house, and there wasn’t anything there.”

Her eyes widened, “You already looked at...” she stopped and waived her hand, “Never mind. I don’t need to know.” 

Dean gave her a small smile, “Yeah. Best you don’t.” But then like a ton of bricks it hit him, hard. He stood up quickly, “That’s it!”

The two looked up at him, both moving their hands and arms, waiting for him to explain. He turned to both of them. “Mrs. Reynolds.”

“Wait. What?” Sam gave him a strange look, “I thought you said that Dr. Reynolds killed Nikki, that Mrs. Reynolds was so drugged up...”

He waved at his brother to shut up, but when that wasn’t working he cut him off instead, “Yeah, I still think the Doctor did it. But, her jewelry box. It was in her jewelry box.”

“Wait?” Carmen asked, “Are you saying the Doctor killed Nikki, saved the necklace and then gave it to his drugged up wife?” Dean nodded. She blinked a few times, “Well no wonder Nikki’s pissed off.” 

Sam stifled a laugh under his fist, but then asked, “But what activates the murders? It’s not the same time frame between murders that was between the hospital visits.” 

“I have no idea. But you know what? We really don’t need to know. You need to get that necklace and destroy it.”

Sam looked up at him, “I need to? Don’t you mean, we?”

Dean looked over at Carmen. “Since we have no idea what activates the necklace. I need to stay here and make sure she’s safe. For all I know just someone touching it, could activate Nikki into her little autopsy curiosity on her living victims.”

Sam nodded, he had a point. “Okay. I’ll head over to the house, get the necklace, get out, destroy it, and then head back over.”

Carmen looked at the two of them, “So that’s it. I mean, really. You destroy the necklace and it’s over?”

The brothers looked at each other, “It should be.”

“Should be?” she swallowed, “Neither of you sound all that convinced.”

“Well, it’s not like there is an exact science to all this.” Sam finally admitted. 

Carmen nodded, “Wonderful.”

“Well, first things first.” Dean said. Sam agreed and stood up. He then smiled and stuck out his hand. “What?”

“Keys?”

Dean glared at Sam, “You BETTER take care of her.”

Sam rolled his eyes, taking the keys out of Dean’s heavy grip, and looked at Carmen. “Word of warning. Never, never, hurt the car.” He glared back at Dean, “He never lets it go.” He walked to the door, “Like he could avoid a Demon possessed semi-truck.” And with that he was out the door. 

Dean was on his heels, turning back to Carmen briefly, “Be right back.” He ran out the door, and to the car. “Hey wait!”

“What?” Sam asked when he got to the driver side door. He rolled his eyes, “Yes, I’ll take good care of...”

Dean cut him off, “No bitch, pop the trunk. I need to get some things.” Sam walked to the trunk of the car, and opened it. Dean reached in and started grabbing a few things.

His brother looked at him, “You really are worried it’s going to come after her aren’t you?”

He took that last thing, put it in the bag, and then looked up at Sam, “Do you really think I would have exposed her to any of this, told her the truth, if I didn’t honestly believe that something was going to happen?” He looked down briefly, “I just have this gut feeling. I can’t shake it.”

Sam nodded. He understood those gut feelings. He learned not to ever ignore them. He had learned the hard way. “Keep her safe. I’ll get the necklace.”

Dean gave him a smile, patted his brother on the shoulder, turned and then ran back up the steps into the apartment. Sam gave a soft smile, shook his head, then got into the Impala and drove to the good doctor’s house to find that shiny necklace.   
~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~

Chapter 16:  
~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~

The Impala pulled up to the curb, and Sam put the car into park. He looked over at the house and sighed. “Perfect.” He reached into his pocket and got out his phone, dialing. Once it picked up, he started, “We have a problem. The doctor and wife are both home.”

Dean sighed into his phone as he placed the EMF reader on the living room table with a curious glance from Carmen. Them both being home was going to make things more difficult. “Where are they?”

Sam took out the heat sensor. Sometimes it paid off to ‘borrow’ things from the police department. “Someone is in the den, and someone else is in the master bedroom.” It wasn’t difficult to deduce whom was were.

Dean rubbed his forehead and sat down on the couch. “Well the jewelry box is in the master bedroom.” He looked out the window and saw the sun still high in the sky. “Sorry Sammy, looks like you have a stake out. You’re gonna have to wait till she goes down to get something for dinner.”

“Perfect,” Sam said again, and sighed looking at the house. “Okay, I’m on it. I’ll let you know when I get it, or if there are any other snags.” And with that he hung up the phone and put it back in his pocket. He leaned back against the seat, and crouched down. This was not going to be fun.

Dean replaced his own cell back into his pocket and turned to Carmen. “Their both home. It’s going to take awhile.” She nodded, and then pointed to the contraption on her coffee table. He smiled, “EMF reader.” He stood back up, and got another one out of the bag he took from the trunk. He then started walking back into her bedroom along with the bag. She followed on his heels. He turned it on, and sat it on her nightstand. “It will give us a heads up if Nikki is in the area.” He then pulled an iron rod out and leaned it against the stand. 

She nodded with a grim smile, “Oh kay.” He went over and turned the radio on to some light music, on a very clear channel. Then turned on a couple lights. He went into the bathroom, then the hall, turning on lights or radios as he went too. She continued to follow, “Well, there goes this month’s electric bill.”

He smiled, and finished turning on the radio in her living room. “Static to a radio, flickering lights, are also another indication.” He finally pulled out the salt gun and laid it on the table. Then he walked over to her, and slowly put his hands on her shoulders, “I just want to take every precaution.” She gave a soft smile up at him, and he leaned down. But he didn’t kiss her. He closed his eyes, and rested his forehead against hers. 

“You really are worried aren’t you?” She said, her hand coming up to rest on the side of his face. 

He nodded slowly against her. His stomach was just turning like crazy. His shoulders could feel the tension. It’s like he could almost smell it. He opened his eyes, and his worry, concern, and something so much more poured down to her. “Carmen...” 

She didn’t allow him to continue. She just leaned up and kissed him. It started soft. It started gentle. But when his arms wrapped around her, pulling her to him, hugging her to him, the kiss grew more urgent. His need to protect her, shelter her. Her fear, and worry. All their emotions and wants erupting into a physical need that they both knew each other could fill. It wasn’t long before her arms were pulling him down the hallway, shoes being kicked off in the process, their mouths never parting. 

Her back soon hit the mattress without her shirt or bra for that matter. And his was off before his hips settled between her spread legs. The skin to skin contact welcome in the chaos of everything around them. He pulled away briefly to look down into her dark eyes. Her dilated pupils stared back, her fingers running though his hair. The bright light in the room, making her skin glow back at him, showing her chest moving with her heavy breathing. “You sure you want...” 

She pulled him closer, “I’m sure.” She said kissing him, “Make me forget it all,” she requested against his lips. He moved his body back over her, shielding her, his arms wrapping around her, determined to do just that.

 

His lips trailed over her neck, and down her breast bone. Her fingers laced through his short hair, a gasp on her lips as his tongue licked at a hard nipple. He pulled away much too quickly and she groaned at the loss of contact. But she smiled up at him, seeing him work the button on her jeans. She lifted her hips, helping him pull off the denim and silk underwear in one swoop. 

Dean was ready to move back to her, but she stopped him as she sat up on her knees like him. Her hands moved to his jeans. Her hands popped the button, pulled down the zipper, and moved into his boxers before his arms could pull her in for kiss. His mouth gasped at her lips as her fingers wrapped around his hardening shaft. Her other hand, and one of his helped to slide the offending clothing off. Which found its way to the floor at the side of the bed. His arms wrapped around her, pulling her tight against him. Her arms pulled his neck and head back down, their mouths feasting on each other once more. 

His hands traveled down her sides, grasping her hips with his hands. He picked her up as he leaned back on his heals, taking her with him. Her legs moved to his sides, her hands bracing on his shoulders, as he slowly lowered her onto him. Her head moved back, her eyes closings as he sunk slowly into her. They stopped briefly, feeling the connection, mouths joining. Then they both started to move. His hands pulled her hips down, as his hips moved up to meet her. Her legs and hips moved in a counter rhythm, her hands grasping his shoulders tight. 

Her mouth broke away for air, as their bodies continued to move. Her head tilting back, her dark hair swaying back and forth. His mouth moved down her neck, his hands up her back, pulling her tighter to him. His face moved in between her breasts, their hips continuing to move, faster, more frantic. His teeth lightly scraped across a nipple, as her movements became faster, losing rhythm, her eyes closed, mouth open, gasping, beautiful abandon on her face. 

His hands traveled down over her hot, soft skin, back to her hips, guiding her movements once again. And then she was squeezing him. Her arms, her legs, her inner being. He watched her face, holding on to her, as her body convulsed around him, and then he was kissing her, raising himself back to his knees. His hands moved up to her shoulders, and then he leaned back down. 

Her back lightly settled onto the bed, her legs moved to warp around his back, keeping him in place, but a gasp escaped her mouth at the change in angle. His face moved back into her neck, as his body started to move once again, this time slower. She gave a soft moan into his ear, her breath washing over his cheek, her finger tips trailing over his spine. 

Dean moved his head, looking back into her now open, dark eyes. A dazed yet lustful gaze peered back at him. Carmen’s lips found his once again, her tongue licked at his lips. As he opened his mouth, his hips thrust harder into her. Her tongue darted more forcefully into his mouth, tasting him, mimicking his own actions. He groaned, and moved faster. Her fingertips gripped harder, her nails lightly digging in to his slick skin, spurring him to move harder. 

His body covered her, his arms wrapped around her, his hips moved more forcefully into her. Her legs gripped him tighter, pulled him deeper. Her body rocked back against him. He felt her legs trembling around him, and he somehow moved even faster into her welcoming form. With a soundless scream from her lips, she was gone once again, his world went into a hot flash of white light behind his eyes as her whole body tightened around him and he exploded inside of her. Their hands gripping on to each other’s sweaty bodies for dear life. 

~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~

The sun was setting in the distance, and Sam gave a long yawn. He looked at his watch, and then back to the sensor. He rubbed his neck, and checked it again, and then sat up a little more. There was movement upstairs. She had moved from the bed and was walking around the room. This could be his chance, so he took his equipment and got out of the car. 

He crept around to the back of the house. He quietly moved some of the patio furniture, got on top, and managed to wrangle himself up the tree next to one of the master bedroom windows. He carefully looked inside, and reared back. She was still there. He moved deeper into the tree, trying to stay hidden, as he took out the heat sensor. She was still moving around in there, and then he noticed that the doctor was coming up the steps as well. He rolled his eyes. Great. Just great. He really did not want to be spending all night in a tree. He sat back, pulled his long legs up more, and waited. 

~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~

Carmen felt the weird movement, and slowly opened one eye. “What are you doing?” she asked, slightly muffled from her mouth laying against his chest. His one arm wrapped around her, cradling her to his side. 

His eyes briefly moved to look at her, then back to the device in his hands. He gave a smile as he typed in the last four digits and then pressed save to the Dean W. entry in her cell phone. “Just laying my claim in your phone book.”

She raised her head a little, rested her chin on his chest. Her other arm came out, and she rested her palm on his stomach, “Claim?”

He sat the phone back on her nightstand, and gave her a small smirk. His hands came back to pull her up against him, as his body rolled to the side facing her, his one hand lightly running his fingertips down her arm. “Do you have a problem with that?”

Her eyes sparkled back at him, her eyebrow arched, “I guess it depends on what you mean by that.”

Dean grinned, “Well, what do you want it to mean?” 

~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~

Sam put the heat sensor in the backpack, and moved a little trying to get a look in the window. He wished he could hear what they were saying. His eyes widened as he got a good view. They were kissing. Well, the doctor was kissing. The wife was only kind of kissing back. Sam could clearly see the effect of the drugs on her. To say that Dr. Reynolds was keeping his wife drugged up, was a vast understatement. But why? He had lived with her for years when she had been hell on wheels. Why the change all of a sudden? 

He was pulled out of that thought when he saw the doctor move away. Sam moved himself more against the trunk of the tree, but kept his eyes on him. He moved over to the dresser. Sam’s eyes widened as he watched the doctor take out the silver necklace. Dean was right. Nikki’s necklace was in Mrs. Reynolds jewelry box. Or at least it was, until the doctor took it out, and was now moving back towards his wife. Sam swallowed. He had a feeling he knew where this was going. He fished out his cell phone, as he watched the doctor place the necklace around his wife’s neck, leaving a small kiss just above the clasp. 

~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~

Carmen grinned at him and was about to speak when Dean’s phone went off. He immediately knew the ring tone, and put one finger up as he rolled over looking for his pants. He turned it on, “Tell me you got it.”

“We have more complications. But it is here.” Sam whispered into the phone.

Dean laid back on the bed, and she curled up to his side, resting her chin back on his chest. His hand came back up, rubbing over her bare back, “What kind of complications?” Her eyebrow rose at his question.

“He’s putting the necklace on his wife.”

“What?”

“That’s not all. Seems the doctor has some plans for tonight with his wife wearing that necklace.”

Dean closed his eyes and tried not to shudder, “Some people are truly sick.”

“You’re telling me. Dean, I don’t think I can watch this.” Sam said, with a queasy sound to his voice, just as the doctor began to kiss his wife once more.

Dean smiled, “Oh, Sammy. It’s the live version of what you see on that laptop of yours. Come on...” but he stopped dead. The EMF reader started to buzz, the radio turned to pure static. Both of their heads immediately looked at it.

“What does that mean?” Carmen asked with fear.

“Uhhhh... Sam... you might not have to watch.” Dean said into the phone. A fuzzy white form started to turn into reality at the foot of the bed. The EMF reader went crazy.

“What? What are you…” he stopped with the scream he heard over the phone.

Dean grabbed her arm, and pulled her off the bed to the other side, pushing her behind him. “Nikki’s HERE!” he yelled into the phone, dropped it, and then grabbed the iron poll he had sat previously next to the stand. Nikki fully materialized and started to move towards them, Dean didn’t wait, and lunged for her with the pipe. Nikki exploded into ghostly vapor, with a started cry from Carmen. 

~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~

Sam’s heart raced at his brother’s words, and the screams. He knew there wasn’t time to do this without being seen anymore, and with that he threw the bag through the window breaking it wide open. 

Dr. Reynolds and his wife broke apart with a start as a huge figure lunged through their now broken window. The doctor stood up to confront him, but Sam didn’t wait, and punched him hard across the face. The doctor was out cold before he hit the floor. 

The wife moved backwards and fell on the bed. Sam quickly made his way to her, as she screamed. 

“I just want the necklace,” he said as he reached out and pulled it up and over her head. She screamed again, and fainted. 

Sam grabbed his bag from the floor, and moved towards the door, and down the stairs. 

~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~

Dean turned back to Carmen, grabbing her arm, and pushing her towards the door and out of the bedroom. 

A swirl of white smoke formed in the doorway, springing another screech from her mouth. Her arm immediately was pulled backward, her body thrown towards the bed behind the man yielding the pipe at her attacker.

With a fierce almost growl Nikki dissipated again. Dean swallowed and moved over to Carmen, whom was pulling a T-shirt over her head, her eyes moving back and forth at the flickering lights, the static still raging through the radio. 

He reached for her again, and pulled her in front of him. His arms wrapped around her, his hands holding the pipe out again. He tried to move to the door, he wanted to get into the living room for the salt gun. They tried moving to the door again, but Nikki materialized once again, this time faster. She was getting pissed off. 

“Come on Sam...” Dean said through gritted teeth as they started backing to the other side of the room. She disappeared. Dean spun around at the draft to his back just in time as a light cut racked across his skin. Nikki’s long fingernails reaching for him. 

He turned Carmen out of the way, as his other hand swung for Nikki. The ghost dodged the pipe, reappearing next to Carmen. She leapt backwards, skidding on the floor towards the bed, falling backwards. Dean swung again, and she popped out of existence. He turned towards Carmen laying on the floor, he started for her just as the swirl of white appeared to his left. 

~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~  
Sam turned into the living room, and was glad he remembered the fireplace there. He started for his matches, and then noticed the controls. Automatic. He flipped it on, waiting for it to light. He took a heavy object off the mantle and brought it down hard onto the mirror in the necklace, shattering it. He threw it into the fire and then started looking though his bag. His fingers found the salt and he swiftly threw it onto the melting necklace in the fire. 

Watching it, he quickly took out his cell again. “Dean... DEAN?!?” He yelled into the phone still connected to the chaos across town. 

~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~

Dean moved to the right as Nikki started to appear again, and then her head tilted. Her form stopped. Then started to fade in and out. She screeched as reddish flames started to lick at her white figure. She growled and waved her arms as she was being pulled into the floor. With one last wail she was gone. 

He watched her disappear, his breathing ragged. Then he turned quickly, falling onto the floor next to Carmen. His hands moved over her, finding her breathing, but unconscious. He pulled her into his lap, and reached for the phone that had also fallen to the floor in the commotion. He immediately, pulled the phone back from his ear just as Sam screamed his name once again.

“Sam. Get here. Now.” He said, as he pulled her closer to him. She wasn’t waking up, and he had had a sick feeling as his hand encountered something slick and warm at the back of her head. 

~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~

His eyes flickered over to the hospital bed, as a hand went to his shoulder, “It’s not your fault.”

Dean looked up at his brother, “I was supposed to protect her.”

Sam sighed, “You did. She’s alive. Nikki’s gone.”

He nodded just as the doctor came in. They both moved towards him at the foot of the bed. “What can you tell us?” 

The doctor turned towards him, “She’ll be fine. She’s asleep right now. She has a couple stitches from where she hit her head. She’s got a rather large concussion. She might be a little out of it, a little blurry on some things. But, she’ll be fine.” He said giving a reaffirming grip to Dean’s shoulder. The doctor marked a few things on her chart and walked back out of the room.

“You heard that, right? She’ll be fine.” Sam reiterated.

Dean sighed. “Define fine Sam? She was almost killed by a ghost. She knows that all this stuff is real. She has to live with all that. And now what? The ghost is gone. What do I do?”

Sam looked down, he knew this was coming, and didn’t say anything.

Dean looked over at Carmen on the bed, laying there so innocently. “Stay? You know I can’t stay. Though I want...” He stopped, and closed her eyes from looking at her. “Long distance? With what she knows that I do? Keep her worrying about me?” He shook his head. “She can’t, and I won’t let her come with us.” He rubbed his forehead. 

Sam looked at Carmen then back to his brother. He could only imagine what he was going through. “She’ll wake up soon, and the two of you will figure it out together.”

Dean sighed, he knew Sam was right but. “We’ll have to come up with something. But what Sam? Seriously? Someone that actually knows everything, understands, that I truly care...” he stopped again. “But I CAN’T stay. There’s too much out there. Too much we need to...” he stopped again. He was so torn. There was just no good option. 

“Well, we’ll just have to see what she says. What she wants.” Dean gave a small smile to his brother’s words. Carmen was a girl that would have her own say. One of the things he loved about her. He closed his eyes and was thankful that Sam tried to change the subject. “So what about Dr. Reynolds?”

“What about him?”

“Well, he’s more than likely going to report a breaking and entry.”

“And what? Have his drugged up wife confirm it? That someone stole his ex-lovers necklace?” He shook his head, “I doubt he’ll do anything.”

“We still don’t know what happened. And he’s going to get away with murder.”

Dean didn’t like it either. But there wasn’t much they could do about that. He was about ready to say that when he noticed the movement on the bed. He quickly moved to her side, “Carmen?” Her eyes slowly opened, blinked a few times, and then looked right at him. He smiled at her, “There you are. We were worried.”

She closed her eyes again, then opened them, trying to refocus on him. “Worried?”

He nodded at her, “You’re in the hospital. You hit your head pretty hard. We think it was on the corner of the bed.”

She gave him a confused look. “Bed?”

He nodded, his thumb moving softly over the back of her hand. “But the doctor says you’ll be fine. Just a concussion and some stitches.” 

“Okay. But...” She tilted her head towards him, and his heart fell into his stomach at her next words. “Who are you?”

Dean’s caress to her hand stopped, and Sam stood up straighter. He swallowed hard, and slowly moved her hand back to the bed, and took a step back. “Carmen...” he started, not wanting to know the answer to the question he was about to ask, “What’s the last thing you remember?”

Her brow furrowed for a second. She looked over at Sam, back towards Dean, and then Sam again. “You came into the Emergency room.” She looked back at Dean, “You were hurt.” She pointed her finger at him, “I treated you, didn’t I?”

Dean swallowed again, his heart breaking, but he nodded, “Yeah. You did.”

She looked around the room, “How did I?”

“Seems you don’t remember treating me, making me all better, and then tripping over one of the hospital beds.” He put on a fake smile, “We just wanted to make sure that the nice, pretty doctor that did such a great job on me was okay.” He saw Sam’s eyes widen. “And now that we see that you’ll be okay. We can leave.” His face almost dropped the smiling mask he gave her, even as he thought about his words, his eyes however couldn’t conceal the feelings ragging through him.

She looked at him and gave him a soft smile. “Okay.” She looked at Sam, then back to Dean, “Thank you.”

He nodded, his hand reached out and patted her hand very softly, lingering more than it should, “Take care of yourself.”

“You too.” She said, reaching over, and resting her hand lightly over is. Their eyes meet for a minute, but summoning up all the strength he had, he pulled away and walked towards the door. 

“Bye.” He said and walked out without turning around. 

~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~

Sam didn’t say anything and followed his brother out of the hospital towards the parking lot. He was in shock, total shock at his brothers actions and wasn’t able to form a sentence until they got to the car. “What are you doing?”

Dean stopped and leaned on the car, looking over the other side at his brother. “She doesn’t remember me.”

“But...”

Dean shook his head, “She doesn’t remember me. She doesn’t remember Nikki. She doesn’t remember everything we told her. She doesn’t remember her world crashing down around her.” Sam sighed and was about to object. “I can’t do that to her again. And if I did, and if she did accept it again... do I want to?” He shook his head, “Sam, she’s better off not knowing. She’s better off not having a boyfriend that’s a hunter. She’s better off...”

Sam cut him off, “But what about you?” Dean looked down, opened the car door, and got inside. Sam got in next to him, “Dean?” He started up the car, reached over and turned on the radio. “Dean?” He backed out of the parking spot, and then started for the exit. Sam shook his head, and said nothing as Metallica blasted out the speakers covering the sounds of the tires screeching out of the parking lot an onto the road. 

~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~

Carmen watched the door shut behind them. Her eyes looked down at her hand, still feeling the warmth of his skin. She closed her eyes, a tear streaming down her cheek. “Bye Dean.” 

~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~

The End.


End file.
